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FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 



LA CALPRENEDE'S ROMANCES AND 
THE RESTORATION DRAMA 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS 

AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

(department of ENGLISH) 



BY 

HERBERT WYNFORD HILL 



Reprinted from the University of Nevada Studies, Vol. II, No. 3 (1910), and 

Vol. Ill, No. 2 (191 1) 



Zbc xaniversiti? ot Cbtcaao 

FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER 



LA CALPRENEDE'S ROMANCES AND 
THE RESTORATION DRAMA 



A DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS 

AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

(department of ENGLISH) 



BY 

HERBERT WYNFORD HILL 



Reprinted from the University of Nevada Studies, Vol. II, No. 3 (1910), and 

Vol. Ill, No. 2 (191 1) 



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Composed and Printed By 

The University o! Chicago Press 

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

The present study of the influence of La Calprenede's 
romances, Cassandra and Cleopatra, on the late seventeenth- 
century drama is the second of a series concerned with the 
influence of types of novels on the plays of the period. The 
first of the series presented the influence of the pastoral 
romances. On tracing this influence it was found that in 
the second half of the century new currents of influence 
were setting in; and that while the older influences persisted 
to a greater or less extent and in some cases lent themselves 
with modification to the new spirit, they were no longer in 
control. Chief among the new forces was the French heroic 
romance, a type having its beginning in D'Urfe's Astrea 
(1607-19), maturing in Gomberville's Polexander (1629- 
37), and flowering luxuriantly in the romances of La Calpre- 
nede and Mile Scudery.^ And this was the type selected 
for the present investigation. As the study proceeded the 
necessity of setting some limitations became imperative, 
and La Calprenede was chosen as the representative of the 
heroic school. Later it was found advisable still further to 
limit the study to Cassandra and Cleopatra. It is hoped that 
the range is sufficiently broad to indicate the main lines of 
influence. To Dr. Frederic Ives Carpenter, who drew my 

1 The principal French romances included in this group are, in addition 
to those already named: Frangois de MoUere's Polixene (1623), a pastoral 
heroic romance; Gombauld's Endymion (1624), an allegorical heroic romance; 
Jean-Pierre Camus' Iphigenes (1625), a pastoral heroic romance; Jean Des- 
maretz, sieur de Saint-SorUn's Ariane (1632), a historical heroic romance; 
Pierre d'Ortigue, sieur de Vaumoriere's Le Grand Scipion (1656-62). La 
Calprenede's romances were Cassandre (1642-50) ; CUopdtre (1647-58) ; and 
Faramond (1661-70). Mademoiselle de Scudery's romances were Ibrahim 
(1641); Artamene ou le Grand Cyrus (1649-53); La Clelie (1654-60); and 
Almahide (1660-63). 

1 



2 • Herbert Wynford Hill 

attention to this line of research, I am indebted for many 
helpful suggestions. Professor John Matthews Manly I 
wish to thank for encouragement and kindly criticism. To 
Dr. Myra Reynolds and the Seminar of 1907 in the heroic 
play I owe many contributions to the second part of this 
study. From the librarians of Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, 
and Chicago Universities I have received numerous courte- 
sies. 



LA CALPRENEDE'S ROMANCES AND THE RESTO- 
RATION DRAMA 

By Herbert Wynford Hill 

PART I: THE ROMANCES 
THE PLOT OF Cttssandra 
The main plot.^ — Oroondates^ the young prince of Scythia, 
while serving in his father's army against Darius, king of 
Persia, bursts into one of the tents of the enemy, and sees 
the divine Statira, the daughter of the king. Although 
forced to depart on the instant, he is captivated by this 
glimpse of the most perfect workmanship of the gods. Dur- 
ing the remainder of the campaign he is haunted by the 
beautiful vision ; and as soon as the armies withdraw to their 

1 The plot analyses throughout will not be exhaustive but, it is hoped, 
sufficiently complete to guide the reader to an understanding of La Calprenede's 
method of plot structure. The plots on which plays are based will be pre- 
sented more in detail when the plays are discussed. For further synopses 
the reader may consult Bibliothique universelle des romans (October, 1700, 
and November, 1780) ; and Koerting, Geschichte des franzosichen Romans im 
17. Jahrhundert, Vol. I, pp. 247-81. 

- The antecedent action of the Cassandra is introduced in the form of 
"histories" told by Araxes, squire to Oroondates, by Cleone, and by Toxaris. 
See pp. 5-33, 41-113, 242-55, 253-70. The page references here and elsewhere, 
unless otherwise specified, are to Cotterell's translation of Cassandra, ed. 
of 1676. The title-page reads as follows: 

"Cassandra The Fam'd Romance. The Whole Work: In Five Parts. 
Written Originally in French, and Now Elegantly Rendred into English By 
Sir Charles Cotterell, Master of the Ceremonies to His late Majesty of Blessed 
memory, and to our present Soveraign Charles II. King of Great Britain, 
France and Ireland, etc. London Printed for Peter Parker, at the Leg and 
Star over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill, 1676." 

One of the best discussions of La Calprenede's romances and of the other 
French romances of the seventeenth century is that of Professor Thomas 
Frederick Crane in the introduction to his excellent edition of Boileau's Les 
heros de roman. Other accounts are those of Koerting mentioned above, 
Morillot's Le roman en France depuis 1610 jusqu' a nos jours, Le Breton's Le 
roman au dix-septieme siecle, and Charlanne's Influence franfaise en Angle- 
terre au XV 11^ siecle, chap. vi. 

3 



4 Herbert Wynford Hill 

winter quarters, being unable longer to endure the torments 
of his passion, he goes in disguise to the Persian camp. Here 
by his prowess and magnanimity he wins the lasting friend- 
ship of Artaxerxes, Statira's brother. With this beginning 
he rapidly advances in Statira's esteem and affections; at 
the proper moment his high rank is discovered, and he learns 
with rapture that Statira returns his love. Through the 
trickery of Roxana, who is herself in love with Oroondates, 
Statira is led to believe that he is false and she marries Alex- 
ander, who has meanwhile captured her father's kingdom. 
After Oroondates has recovered from the shock of the 
announcement of this marriage, he sets out for Babylon with 
the intention of killing Alexander; on the way he learns that 
Alexander is dead. He hears also that Roxana, who is now 
in control of affairs in Babylon, has put to death Statira. It 
appears later, however, that this last information was false. 
Perdiccas, to whom the task of beheading Statira is assigned, 
himself being in love with her, executes in her place a slave. 
He furthermore takes her to a place of safety, the house of 
Polemon, on the banks of the Euphrates, not far from the 
walls of Babylon. 

It is at this point that the romance opens.^ In the pleas- 
ing shade of leafy trees not more than two or three hundred 
paces distant from the house of Polemon, our hero is intro- 
duced. Hardly has he tasted the first sweetness of slumber, 
when he is disturbed by the noise of neighboring conflict. 
Rushing to the scene of combat he intuitively joins the weaker 
side. One of the contestants flees, leaving Oroondates to 
continue the combat with the other. While thus engaged 
these two are set upon by a dozen followers of the fugitive; 

1 Interspersed in the main story are frequent "histories" which serve 
to bring the various threads of the plot up to date. These rather seriously 
break the continuity of the narration, as the following page references, marking 
the progress of the main plot, Afrill indicate: pp. 1-4; 34-40; 114-208; 256-86; 
307-28; 339-45; 363-64, etc. 



La Calpeenede's Romances 5 

joining forces they drive off this band. When all is quiet 
once more, there is an exchange of compliments, and Oroon- 
dates discovers his companion to be Lysimachus. He further 
discovers that the knight whom he helped escape is no other 
than Perdiccas. As a final blow he is told by Lysimachus 
of the reported death of Statira, and throwing himself on 
his sword, falls weltering in a river of blood. Fortunately 
his wound is not fatal and he is borne to the house of Polemon, 
where he rapidly recovers. Statira is carried back to Baby- 
lon by Perdiccas. Oroondates, with the assistance of his 
friends, finally wins the city, and the hand of Statira. 

THE TWO DUPLICATING PLOTS 

The Lysimachus-Parisatis plot} — Lysimachus, serving 
under Alexander during the invasion of the Persian empire, 
meets Parisatis, who with her "sister Statira is taken captive 
after the defeat of Darius. He falls in love with this princess 
and renders her some signal services. Alexander, in whose 
hands lies the disposition of Parisatis, supports Lysimachus' 
rival, Hephestion. Lysimachus repeatedly attempts to 
fight with his rival, and for this is condemned to be eaten by 
a lion. Lysimachus succeeds in killing the lion, but even 
this exhibition of prowess does not avail. Hephestion 
marries Parisatis, but dies soon after. Lysimachus hears 
that Parisatis has been killed, together with Statira. He 
joins Oroondates in the capture of Babylon and thus gains 
Parisatis. 

The Artaxerxes-Berenice plot.- — Artaxerxes, son of Darius, 
is severely wounded during an engagement with the Scythian 
forces; he is left for dead on the battlefield. He is rescued 

1 The story up to the point where Lysimachus joins Oroondates is told 
by Lysimachus, pp. 119-56. 

2 The story is mingled in a puzzling way with the main action. To 
further complicate matters, the solution is held in suspense until the close. 



6 Herbert Wynford Hill 

and brought back to health by a noble enemy. In due time 
he meets Berenice, the daughter of the Scythian king, and 
falls in love with her. Encouraged by the recollection of 
Oroondates' success in a similar situation he urges a success- 
ful suit. Hardly has he enjoyed the first raptures of a 
requited passion when he is summoned home by the news 
of Alexander's invasion of his father's kingdom. On his way 
thither he is captured by pirates. Escaping, he has the 
good fortune to save the life of the king of Scythia. His 
joy in this act is short lived, however, for the ungrateful king, 
discovering the identity of his rescuer, throws him into prison. 
Arsacomes, an unscrupulous suitor, abducts Berenice. Bere- 
nice escapes and is recaptured several times; finally she is 
rescued by Oroondates, and turned over to Artaxerxes, who 
has in the meantime been released. 

THE REMAINING PLOTS 

The Orontes-Thalestris plot. — Supposedly killed in the fall 
of a bridge, Orontes, stimulated by the picture of a beautiful 
girl, sets out to find her. Disguised as a woman he goes to 
the land of the Amazons, where he finds in Thalestris, their 
queen, the object of his search. He wins her friendship but 
dares not reveal his passion. One day as Orontes, tortured 
by his love for the fair Amazon, lies in an arbor sobbing out 
his secret, he is overheard by Thalestris and banished. 
Thalestris hears that Orontes is dead, and, grief-stricken, 
bursts into a declaration of her love for him within his hear- 
ing. He discovers himself to her and for a brief space they 
rejoice in each other's love. Orontes soon goes away on a 
defensive expedition and while absent is deceived into believ- 
ing Thalestris false to him. He deserts her and she very 
naturally is furious. They meet in battle before the walls 
of Babylon. Orontes persistently refuses to engage against 



La Calprenede's Romances 7 

Thalestris and repeatedly saves her life. Finally they are 
reconciled. 

The Barsina plot. — Barsina, a Persian lady of noble rank, 
is beloved by Memnon, one of the first noblemen of the king- 
dom, and also by Oxyartes, brother to the king. At first 
friendly toward each other, the two suitors gradually drift 
into strained relations. Memnon refuses to fight with 
Oxyartes because Oxyartes is the king's brother, and accord- 
ingly leaves the country, resigning his claim to Barsina. 
Oxyartes refuses to accept this sacrifice; and Memnon, 
returning, marries Barsina. Memnon shortly after his 
marriage is killed in battle, and Barsina marries Oxyartes. 

The Theander-Alcione plot. — The happy marriage rela- 
tions of Theander and Alcione are broken up by the mali- 
cious plottings of Bagistanes, a rich uncle of Theander's, ably 
assisted by Astiages, Theander's brother. Both Theander 
and Alcione stab themselves. Alcione recovers. 

The Hermione plot. — In love with Alexander, whom she 
has never seen, Hermione kills her wicked husband Spitamenes 
and goes to Alexander's camp. Repulsed by Alexander, 
she dons armor and enters battle. Before the walls of Baby- 
lon she receives a mortal wound from the hands of Demetrius. 
The susceptible Demetrius falls in love with her. 

The Deidamia plot. — Deidamia loses her lover in battle 
and sees her father's kingdom ruined by rebellion. Obeying 
an oracle she comes to the camp of Oroondates. Here she 
is persistently wooed by Demetrius and finally yields to his 
suit. 

The plot structure. — Although because of the introduction 
of numerous "histories" the romance seems to cover a long 
period of time, in reality it extends only a trifle beyond six 
weeks. The first two days, largely concerned with Oroon- 
dates' "history," are complete in Part One; the third day 



8 Herbert Wynford Hill 

carries us to Part Two, Book Three; the fourth day, to Part 
Three; the fifth day, to Part Three, Book Three. We are 
now informed that about a week after he was wounded 
Oroondates recovers. Five days after his recovery Araxes 
goes to Babylon, returning four days later. This brings us 
to about the sixteenth day. Two days later the first battle 
was fought; about a week after the first, the second. The 
siege begins two days after the second battle and continues 
a little over a week before Oroondates is captured. Nearly 
another week elapses before he is rescued. This makes a 
total of about six weeks. 

Strangely enough, when one considers the length of the 
romance, the author with almost Chaucerian insistency 
informs the reader that he intends to hurry on; that the 
length of various narrations or discourses prevents him from 
recounting them; that he has no time to describe this place 
or that battle or ceremony. The inconsistency between 
this avowed intention and the performance grew out of his 
desire to round the story to completion by telling the histories 
of all his important characters. Sometimes this interferes 
sadly with the movement of the main action. Thus just 
before the capture of Oroondates, which is one of the climaxes 
of the story, we find introduced the history of Barsina, an 
account which has little or no bearing on the main plot and 
which seriously clogs the machinery. Nevertheless, read 
leisurely with frequent reference to the preceding threads 
of plot, the romance shapes itself definitely into a fairly well- 
organized story. 

In the handling of the sub-plots. La Calprenede followed 
a plan which he developed more fully in his later romances. 
In the preceding plot analyses, two of the plots have been 
classified as duplicating plots. To even a casual reader one 
of the most noticeable features of the Cassandrais the frequent 



La Calprenede's Romances 9 

duplication of situations and incidents. A somewhat closer 
examination reveals that this duplication is chiefly confined 
to the three plots which we have classified respectively as the 
main plot and the two duplicating plots. Furthermore, 
the situation or incident duplicated invariably appears in 
the main plot although not always in both of the sub-plots 
and generally before its appearance in either of the two sub- 
plots. In other words it seems that the purpose of the repeti- 
tion is to emphasize the incidents and situations in question. 
This method of strengthening the main plot is common 
enough in the drama — witness the Gloucester plot in King 
Lear — and not unknown in romance. That La Calprenede 
employed the method deliberately seems evident enough. 
Oroondates, for instance, interrupts Lysimachus in the midst 
of the relation of his adventures with the following words :^ 

Ah, Lysimachus! What a resemblance our misfortunes have to 
one another. 

In similar vein Artaxerxes says:^ 

Was not Statira Darius's daughter, and was not Oroondates the 
King of Scythia's son ? Hast thou not a heart as well as he ? And 
canst not thou attempt that for his Sister, which he so courageously 
hazarded for thine ? Thou without doubt hast f ecihties in thy design, 
which he found not in his; his Example may encourage thee, his 
proceeding may instruct thee, and his assistance may make thee 
the most fortunate above all men living. 

Even though we had no such statements as these of the 
plan of the author the nature of the resemblance itself offers 
sufficient evidence. Let us compare the Lysimachus-Paris- 
atis plot with the main plot. In each the hero is in love with 
a mistress who has married a rival. In each the rival hus- 
band is killed and the heroine is subjected to a mock execu- 
tion which is thought to be real by the hero. In each the 

1 p. 136. 2 p. 367. 



10 Herbert Wynford Hill 

heroine is discovered to be alive and is finally joined to the 
hero by the capture of Babylon. 

The other supporting plot, the Artaxerxes-Berenice 
story, duplicates the main plot even more closely. The 
two heroes are in love each with the other's sister. They are 
fast friends. To phrase it a little more fully, each is in love 
with the daughter of a hostile king and each goes in disguise 
to the court of his mistress. Each through heroic exploits 
wins favor, and scorns all reward save the hand of the prin- 
cess. Each saves the life of the king. Each heroine is lost 
to the hero through revolution; each is captured by the hero, 
released, and later captured by the unscrupulous rival. 
From this point on, the events which bring together the hero 
and heroine resemble each other less closely. One repeated 
incident, however, is worthy of citation. Each hero, in turn, 
not recognizing the other, mistakes demonstrations with the 
respective princesses of brotherly affection for the accepted 
advances of a rival lover; and a combat ensues. 

Duplication of certain features of the main plot is to be 
found outside of the two supporting plots, but it is of a differ- 
ent nature. The principal compUcating incident of the 
Orontes-Thalestris plot, for instance, is like an incident in 
the main plot. The heroine is deceived through a letter 
into the belief that the hero is false. And, to take another 
example, just as Oroondates comes upon Statira asleep in a 
beautiful spot, so Thalestris comes upon Orontes, not once 
but twice. Neither the incident nor the situation, however, 
is of the kind to warrant any claims of deliberate imitation. 
Both are conventional, appearing time and again in the 
Cassandra and in La Calprenede's other romances. 

The Deidamia and the Hermione stories have little bear- 
ing on the main plot. They are loosely related to each other, 
through Demetrius, who falls in love with each lady in turn. 



La Calprenede's Romances 11 

Hermione, it will be remembered, touches the main plot 
through her relations with Alexander. 

The stories of Barsina and Alcione are introduced prin- 
cipally because their homes are the meeting-places for the 
main characters; the one in the antecedent action, the other 
in the direct narration. The antecedent action, however, 
is not very well centered geographically; it does not focus 
strongly on any one point. The direct action, on the other 
hand, is in the neighborhood of Babylon, and within the city 
itself. The house of Polemon, the father of Alcione, is the 
first gathering-point. Here come nearly all the characters 
of prominence to entertain each other with their histories 
while waiting for the forces to mobilize for the attack on 
Babylon. 

In Babylon after its capture the heroes receive their long- 
deferred rewards. At this point the author takes reluctant 
leave of his gallant heroes and fair heroines, not, however, 
without a fleeting glance at their future. 

The Design [he says] to which I regularly enough have 
tied my self not to wander from the Banks of the Euphrates, and 
the Walls of Babylon, hinders me from following my Heroes in 
their Voyages: I will not therefore relate their fortunate successes; 
their arrivals in their kingdoms; and the crowning of so many 
Gallant Princes, who established a brave and happy Sovereignty, 
which they enjoyed through the whole course of very long and 
prosperous Reigns. You may learn the end of their lives from 
Historians Famous in Antiquity, who have written them. 

THE PLOT OF CUopatra 

The main plot.^ — Coriolanus, captured when an infant 
and deprived of his parents and kingdom, is brought by 
Augustus Caesar to Rome, where he is reared as a Roman 

1 The account of the life and death of Queen Cleopatra and of the birth 
of her daughter, Cleopatra, the heroine of the romance, is told to Tyridates 
by a servant (pp. 36-48). Emilius, squire to Coriolanus, recounts his master's 



12 Herbert Wtnford Hill 

prince. He gets a glimpse of the princess Cleopatra, led a 
slave in the triumphal procession celebrating the fall of 
Alexandria, and falls in love. Two other princes, Marcellus 
and Tiberius, also lose their hearts to this most remarkable 
ornament of her sex. Marcellus, out of friendship to Corio- 
lanus, withdraws his suit; but Tiberius, through malicious 
plottings, drives Coriolanus from Rome, and even succeeds 
in convincing Cleopatra that Coriolanus is false to her. Thus 
when Coriolanus returns in disguise to see Cleopatra he is 
spurned by her. He leaves Rome, and finally, weary and 
sick at heart, reaches a point near Alexandria. Cleopatra, 
voyaging to Alexandria, is cast ashore by a tempest. 

It is at this point that the romance opens. Coriolanus, 
lying down to rest, is aroused by a great noise of clashing 
arms. Rushing upon the scene he takes the side of the 
weaker combatant and assists him to escape. While Corio- 
lanus is continuing the fight, the fugitive returns with a dozen 
or so followers and sets upon Coriolanus' opponent. Corio- 
lanus turns his sword against the new arrivals and helps his 
late opponent drive them off. He now discovers that the 
knight to whom he has last rendered assistance is no other 
than the famous Caesario and that the band they have just 
driven off is that of the notorious pirate, Zenodorus.^ 

adventures to Tyridates (pp. 78-161). Five hundred pages farther on (pp. 
100-14 of the second division of the folio), Cleopatra, in the relation of her 
history to Artemissa, brings the story up to the point where the romance 
opens. The page references here and elsewhere are to Loveday's translation. 
The title-page of this edition reads as follows: 

"Hymen's Praeludia or Loves Master-piece. Being that so much admired 
Romance, Intituled Cleopatra. In Twelve Parts. Written Originally in 
the French, and now Elegantly rendered into English. By Robert Loveday. 
Evand. 

"Qui magis aptaret Cleopatra Parentibus orta. 

"Conspicuis, Comiti quam placuisse Thori? 

"London, Printed, by W. R. and J. R. and are to be sold by Peter Parker, 
at his Shop at the Leg and Star over against the Royal Exchange, and Thomas 
Guy, at the Corner-shop of the Little Lumbard-street and Cornhill, 1674." 

1 This is a favorite way of introducing a hero. The reader will recall 
that in this way Cassandra opens. 



La Calprenede's Romances 13 

A few days after this adventure, Coriolanus strolls into 
a solitary grove which strongly reminds him of the spot on 
the banks of the Tiber where he formerly enjoyed the favor 
of the fair Cleopatra. Exhausted by grief, he falls asleep 
along the luxuriant bank of a murmuring brook with his 
head at the foot of an old oak. Here he is discovered by 
Cleopatra and Artemissa. Cleopatra wakens him and 
reproaches him with infidelity. While he is attempting to 
clear himself a band of villains dash in upon them and carry 
off the two princesses in spite of Coriolanus' prodigious 
efforts to prevent it. After various other adventures the 
hero, in search of death, leaps from a horrible cliff into the 
pitiless waves. By rare good fortune he strikes within 
reaching distance of the sailors on the ship in which Cleo- 
patra is kept prisoner and is dragged on board. He pays for 
his rescue by saving the ship from capture by Cornelius, 
praetor of Alexandria. His identity is soon discovered, 
however, and the ship's company, at the command of one 
of their leaders, turn upon their deliverer. Single-handed 
he beats them off until a ship headed by two of his friends, 
Marcellus and Alexander, comes to his rescue. 

Cleopatra goes to Alexandria. Here Tiberius, the unscru- 
pulous rival, urges his suit and finally attempts to abduct 
the heroine. Coriolanus in checking this move of his rival 
is discovered in combat with him and thrown into prison by 
the emperor. Cleopatra is ordered by the emperor to marry 
Tiberius if she wishes to save the life of Coriolanus. While 
she is debating the matter, through a revolt headed by 
Candace ably supported by Alexander, Artaban, and other 
heroes, Coriolanus is freed from prison. Coriolanus goes to 
the emperor and begs the privilege of dying to secure pardon 
for those involved in the revolt. As the emperor is about 
to grant this privilege, Marcellus rushes before Augustus 



14 Herbert Wynford Hill 

and threatens suicide if the order for Coriolanus' execution 
be carried out. He also reveals the fact that the emperor's 
life has been saved by Coriolanus. After further interces- 
sion Augustus reluctantly yields. Cleopatra is given to the 
hero. 

Space does not permit the analysis of all the sub-plots 
of Cleopatra. It seems necessary, however, to present 
briefly the stories of the two duplicating plots — the Artaban- 
Ehsa plot, and the Caesario-Candace plot. The story of 
Artaban and Elisa is the most typical of all La Calprenede's 
plots in its structure and in its situations, incidents, 
and characters. In interest it surpasses the main story of 
the romance. 

The Artaban-Elisa plot. — Artaban, the son of Pompey 
and Cornelia, after disaster has overtaken his parents, is 
brought up under the name of Britomarus, by Briton, a 
soldier formerly in Pompey's service. He goes to the court 
of Hidaspes, king of Aethiopia. Here he falls in love with 
the princess, Candace, and this results in his banishment. 
He next appears in Arminia, where, having erased the image 
of the fair Candace from his mind, he falls in love with 
Arsinoe, the king's sister. He is scorned because of his 
lowly station and again exiled. He now becomes a great 
general among the Medes and conquers Phraates, king of 
the Parthians. Pursuing the defeated army to the frontier 
he captures Elisa, the king's daughter, and her mother. 
Artaban quarrels with the king of the Medes about the dis- 
position of the captives, and goes over to the side of Phraates. 
As is to be expected the tide of battle now turns against the 
Medes. Pressed to accept reward for his services, Artaban 
asks the hand of Elisa. Elisa is not only refused him but 
is commanded to marry Tigranes, the two kings having come 
to an agreement. Artaban leaves the kingdom, but drawn 



La Calprenede's Romances 15 

by his love, returns to be imprisoned. He is now put, a 
prisoner, on board a ship bound for the court of Tigranes. 
The ship is attacked by pirates under the leadership of 
Zenodorus, and Artaban is released to help beat them off. 
Successful at first, he is later captured by the pirates; picking 
up Zenodorus he leaps with him in his arms into the sea. 
Zenodorus is rescued; but to all appearances Artaban never 
rises, an occurrence not at all strange when it is remembered 
that he wore a full suit of armor. As a matter of fact, how- 
ever, he does come to the surface and with the help of a 
convenient plank keeps afloat until he is picked up by some 
fishermen. He straightway sets out in search of Elisa, who, 
it should be noted, was on board the ship captured by Zeno- 
dorus. In the meantime Elisa has been rescued by Cornelius 
and taken to Alexandria. 

Near the tomb of Tyridates, Artaban and Elisa meet: 
the rapturous moment is disturbed by the appearance of 
Tigranes. A remarkable combat ensues which is stopped 
by Agrippa, a nobleman of Alexandria who has fallen in love 
with Elisa. Arrived within the city, Artaban has the pleas- 
ure of seeing his three mistresses all together. Through the 
influence of Tigranes he is confined a prisoner within his own 
lodgings. A new factor is now introduced to solve the com- 
plication. The people of the kingdom of Parthia, having 
killed their king in an insurrection, clamor for Artaban as 
their ruler. Artaban's noble birth is established through 
a medal which he wears, and he is given the Parthian king- 
dom and the hand of Elisa.' 

1 The reader is kept in ignorance of the real identity of the hero until 
the close. The incidents in the past life of Artaban are introduced in reverse 
order. The following page references will give the reader some idea of the 
complex arrangement of the story. His early history is told by Briton, 
Division Two, pp. 520-75. Artaban disguised as Britomarus tells more of his 
history, Division Two, pp. 505-508; Division Two, pp. 365-86; and Division 
Two, pp. 344-46. Ehsa tells her history to Candace, Division One, pp. 213-66. 
The wife of Phraates fills in the rest, Division Two, pp. 498-505. 



16 Herbert Wynford Hill 

The Caesario-Candace plot.^ — Caesario, "the image of the 
great Caesar intermixed with some ideas of Queen Cleopatra," 
the son of this glorious pair, goes, after the fall of Alex- 
andria, to the court of Hidaspes, king of the Aethiopians. 
He falls in love with Candace, daughter of the king. On 
the king's death Tyribasus, a base rival for the hand of 
Candace, gets control of the kingdom. Caesario helps 
Candace to escape down the Nile. He opposes in battle 
Tyribasus, and defeated, is left for dead on the field. He 
recovers, and kills Tyribasus. Then he sets out in search 
of Candace. Candace has not voyaged far when she is 
captured by the pirate Zenodorus. She sets fire to the ship 
and escapes on a plank. Her rescue from the waves by 
Tyridates marks the opening of the romance. 

After various adventures, Caesario meets Candace in 
Alexandria. Augustus, hearing of Caesario's presence with- 
in the city, commands his imprisonment. Candace heads 
a party that succeeds in rescuing him. They are reconciled 
with Augustus. 

The plan of the plot structure of Cleopatra is similar to 
that of Cassandra. The last two plots outlined above dupli- 
cate the situations and incidents of the first plot; the resem- 
blances are even more striking than in the case of the earlier 
romance. The heroes are princes without parents, home, 
or kingdom. They fall in love at a remarkably early age 
with extremely young princesses.^ They become knights- 
errant and determine the fates of kingdoms with a breath. 
They change sides, carrying victory wherever they go. 
Having distinguished themselves, they scorn all rewards 

1 The antecedent action is introduced by histories told to Tyridates by 
Candace's servant, pp. 49-64; by Candace herself, pp. 172-212; and com- 
pleted by Caesario's relation to Candace, Division Two, pp. 292-317. 

2 Cleopatra and Candace are ten years old when the heroes fall in love 
with them. It is interesting to note that this is about the age when the 
heroines in many of the Greek romances fall in love. 



La Calprenede's Romances 17 

save the hands of their fair mistresses, which are denied 
them. Each hero loves a disdainful mistress who has 
admirers in power; he is loved by another woman. ^ Corio- 
lanus and Caesario visit their mistresses in disguise. All 
are now separated from the objects of their devotion and 
become once more knights-errant. They unwittingly fight 
against their dearest friends, assist their enemies, and per- 
sistently refuse to kill the man who in each case blocks the 
way to happiness. Cleopatra and Candace are shipwrecked 
iu turn. The three heroines are individually and repeatedly 
captured by pirates or unscrupulous rivals; and as a master 
stroke all three in company are attacked by the three unscru- 
pulous rivals and rescued with the greatest difficulty by the 
three noble lovers. From this point to the happy ending 
the experiences of the heroes and heroines are practically 
identical. 

Of the thirteen remaining plots two bear directly upon 
the principal plot and the Artaban-Elisa plot, presenting as 
they do two rivals of the heroes. In the story of Marcellus 
and Julia, the first of these to be considered, we find in Mar- 
cellus the type of the generous rival. This rival is unsel- 
fishly interested in Cleopatra's happiness, and it is only 
through a mistaken belief as to the hero's loyalty that he 
is brought into collusion with the unscrupulous rival in a 
plot to separate Coriolanus and Cleopatra. As soon as he 
discovers his mistake he sets about helping to bring them 
together, and at the close is the one most influential in secur- 
ing from Augustus the hero's pardon. The marriage between 
Marcellus and Julia is not a love match. Thus throughout 
the romance Julia is free to complicate the plot by making 
love to Coriolanus, Artaban, Drusus, and other less promi- 

1 This love situation is too conventional to serve as argument by itself. 
In Cleopatra it is repeated, also, in the stories of the Philadelph and Delia, and 
Tyridates and Mariamne. 



18 Herbert Wynford Hill 

nent heroes. Media, the hero of the second of the two 
plots under consideration, is the type of the unscrupulous 
rival. From the beginning to the end he opposes Arta- 
ban. His marriage at the close to Urania is against his will, 
and his previous relations with her are unimportant com- 
pared with his relations to the characters of the Artaban- 
EUsa plot. 

The Tyridates-Mariamne plot is introduced because the 
house of Tyridates serves as a gathering-place for the six 
principal characters. Furthermore, as uncle to Elisa he is 
entitled to a hearing. The story itself is not interwoven 
with any of the other stories, but in its nature and tone fits 
well into the romance. There are two other plots which 
touch the main plot rather lightly; they are hardly more 
than histories told for the entertainment of characters in the 
romance. These are the stories of Arminius-Isminia, and 
Alcamenes-Menalippa. La Calprenede does, however, join 
them to the principal story after a fashion. Isminia, for 
instance, serves Julia as a slave; and Arminius is brought 
into the main thread of action through a gladiatorial combat. 
Furthermore, Arminius is united to Isminia in Alexandria 
at the time when the principal characters are made similarly 
happy. Alcamenes and Menalippa also participate in this 
glorious conclusion. The Alcamenes-Menalippa story may 
be considered a minor supporting plot, so strong is the 
resemblance of Alcamenes' adventures to those of the chief 
heroes. As an errant knight he wins in disguise fame at a 
foreign court. Menalippa falls in love with him as he lies 
asleep by a babbling brook (cf. Coriolanus 291, and Phila- 
delph 317, 506). Denied the hand of the princess and 
banished, he goes over to the enemy, carrying victory with 
him; he visits his beloved in disguise; and unwittingly fights 
against his friends. Like the Arminius-Isminia plot, the 



La Calprenede's Romances 19 

story centers on the theme of a hero in love with the daughter 
of a hostile king. 

Alexander as twin brother to Cleopatra is given an impor- 
tant role. He not only has a history of his own, but intro- 
duces another family whose exploits furnish material for two 
other plots. All three plots are pretty well woven into the 
main plot. 

Of the five remaining plots four are introduced to round 
out Cleopatra's family history, and the fifth properly belongs 
to the Philadelph-Delia story. These are all brief and not 
very fully developed. 

In spite of the complicated structure of the Cleopatra, 
the careful reader will find numerous hints to guide him 
through the labyrinth of plot. In the latter part, frequent 
references are made to past incidents; some incidents are 
told again from a new view-point; others are discussed and 
explained. 

Although one finishes the romance with the impression 
that the story covers a long period of time, in reality the 
main action up to the point where Coriolanus is imprisoned 
in Alexandria, within a hundred pages of the close, covers 
less than a week. La Calprenede must have taken consider- 
able pains to get his characters into Alexandria in so short 
a space of time; but from this point on, when everything is 
in shape for a rapid, brilliant conclusion, he loiters around 
in an exasperating way. It is well-nigh impossible to deter- 
mine accurately the period of time included between Corio- 
lanus' imprisonment and the happy ending; it certainly 
extends beyond a week, possibly it covers two. Even though 
three weeks be taken as the total period, Cleopatra still has 
greater compression than Cassandra. Cassandra with half 
the number of plots covers twice as long a period. The 
"histories" introducing the antecedent action of Cleopatra 



20 Herbert Wynford Hill 

are much better handled than those of Cassandra. La Cal- 
prenede probably felt the necessity of greater care in the 
handhng of a greater number of plots. Possibly, too, he 
had gained better control of the method employed. The 
indirect narration focuses on one geographical point. The 
direct narration in each romance focuses first on a point near 
a large city and then shifts to the city itself. 

A comparison of the situations and incidents of Cassandra 
and Cleopatra reveals some interesting facts. The central 
situation in each is much the same; and yet there is an essen- 
tial difference, a difference that vitally distinguishes the two 
romances. Let us review the two situations. In Cleopatra the 
hero is in love with a princess, is loved by another woman, 
and contends against a rival more powerful at court than 
himself. In Cassandra the hero is in love with a princess, 
is loved by another woman, and contends against a rival 
more powerful, not at court, but on the battlefield. Alex- 
ander, the rival in Cassandra, captures the kingdom and 
marries the heroine. The rival in Cleopatra opposes the 
hero through influence at court. The fundamental difference 
between the two romances becomes more evident if the main 
situation in Cassandra be stated in a different way. The 
hero in disguise wins favor in a foreign court through exploits 
in war; he falls in love with the king's daughter and refuses 
all rewards save her hand, which is denied him. Up to this 
point the situation is closely paralleled by that of Corio- 
lanus in Cleopatra. Here, however, the resemblance stops. 
Oroondates, the hero in Cassandra, is deprived of his mistress 
by a world conqueror; Coriolanus contends aganst a court 
favorite. Oroondates marshals a great army to capture Baby- 
lon, and so wins his mistress; Coriolanus wins his mistress 
by bringing the emperor over to his side. 

Contrary to what might be expected, with a shifting of 



La Calprenede's Romances 21 

the issue from the battlefield to the drawing-room, women 
take a less active part in Cleopatra than in the earlier romance. 
Cassandra is deceived into believing the hero false through 
the woman in love with the hero ; Cleopatra, through the man 
in love with herself. In the sub-plots of Cassandra also the 
women are more aggressive. It is interesting to note that 
these women are all widows, as of course is the heroine. In 
Cleopatra no widow has an important role, and the heroines 
are for the most part only the glorious prizes to be appor- 
tioned at the close. 

In line with the more subtle handling of the issues at 
stake, we find in Cleopatra less frequent use of the super- 
natural to foreshadow or advance the plot. In the earlier 
romance, at least five of the principal characters are retained 
on the banks of the Euphrates or brought there through 
oracles; and a sixth is sent thither by a vision. In fact 
Artaxerxes is the only hero of note who finds his way natur- 
ally to the scene of action. In Cleopatra, the characters all 
arrive at Babylon in the natural course of their adventures; 
at no point are they directed by supernatural agency.' Not 
until the close is the supernatural introduced. Tiberius is 
at last discouraged from his designs on Cleopatra by the 
prophecy of Thrasyllus; and Augustus is encouraged to 
repentance by the appearance of Caesar's ghost. This 
decrease in the use of the supernatural is to be noted also 
in the minor features such as omens, miraculous herbs for 
healing, potions, and the like. 

Cleopatra shows a marked increase in direct narration. 
Hardly a third of Cassandra is direct narration, twenty-two 
per cent, to be exact; while forty-nine per cent of Cleopatra 
is direct narration, and this, too, in spite of the presence of 

1 In the story of Alcamenes and Menalippa, one of the subordinate plots 
of Cleopatra, an oracle is introduced, but in no vital way does it affect the plot. 



22 Heebert Wynford Hill 

three times as many sub-plots where the percentage of 
indirect narration is naturally high. The main plot runs 
sixty-eight per cent of direct narration, a high proportion 
for a heroic romance.^ 

In other ways the plot is lightened and the movement 
made more rapid; the speeches are shorter; there are fewer 
sohloquies; letters are less frequently introduced; and there 
is a decrease in the length and number of descriptions. In 
Cassandra La Calprenede exhibits an especial fondness for 
descriptions of armies; he rarely passes an opportunity for de- 
scribing the marshaling of forces, and military maneuvers; if 
he does forego the indulgence it is with a sigh and an apology. 
There is little of this in Cleopatra. In his earlier work he felt 
the need of hurrying on ; there is hardly a page that does not 
express the desire, but he had not learned how. In the later 
romance he had learned how, and he felt less trammeled by 
the conventions of heroic romance. The plot marches for- 
ward more gracefully, more rapidly, and more inevitably. 

THE SOURCES OF THE PLOTS OF Cassttfidra AND Cleopatra 
At this point it is not proposed to go into a full discussion 
of the historical sources of the romance.^ The most impor- 

1 In Clelia one of the characters is made to say {Clelia, p. 140, ed. of 1678. 
London printed and to be sold by H. Herringman, D. Newman, T. Cockerel, 
S. Heyrick, W. Cadman, S. Laundes, G. Marriot, W. Croak, and C. Smith): 

"I did not love to be my own Historian, and I must tell you again, that 
I never will, and that those who will write such Books as that famous bUnd 
man did, whose works aU Greece adores, must always introduce some persons 
to tell the adventures of others. For then the Relator commends or con- 
demns those of whom he speaks according to their merit. They will impar- 
tially describe the persons whom they do introduce, they will descant upon 
things and mingle their own thoughts with theirs; but when any are their 
own Historians, all that they shall say in their own advantage is suspected; 
and it is so difficult to do, that if it be a woman who tells her own tale, she 
cannot handsomely say, I made him in love with me; and if it be a man, he 
cannot well say, that he was loved, or that he was valiant; and therefore it 
is a thousand times better to have the story told in the third person than in 
the first," etc. 

- Wherever the plot of a play has been drawn from the romance, the 
sources of the romance have been examined to determine the exact indebted- 
ness of the play to the sources as well as to the romance. 



La Calprenede's Romances 23 

tant will be noted, however, with the special view of deter- 
mining La Calprenede's dependence on these sources. La 
Calprenede states very clearly his attitude toward his mate- 
rial in the preface to Part III of the romance, where he 
addresses Cassandra in the following words :^ 

Take care also, if you please, to excuse me to her; and if she 
think it strange, that having kept myself hitherto enough within 
probabihty, I take a Uttle liberty in the description of some particu- 
lar actions, and that instead of following the manner of writing 
used by Plutarch, Quintus Curtius, Justin, and other Authors 
from whom I have drawn the foundations of your History, I make 
my Heroes march into the fight, in a way somewhat nearer to that 
of Homer, Virgil, Tasso, and other writers of that nature, who have 
beautified the truth with some ornaments, rather more pleasing 
than confined to a strict and regular liklihood; say for my defence, 
that having for your quarrel assembled so many great men, famous 
in Antiquity, and renowned amongst all the Authours that have 
written the History of their age, I, in favour of them, have exempted 
my seK from that severity, and belie v'd that in taking a diversion 
by that kind of recital, I might represent some particulars of that 
valiant Dame, who hath made them known to the whole earth. 
Moreover, our narration is much more fixt upon the especial actions 
of our Heroes, than upon those of whole nations; and we much 
rather seek the reputation of Oroondates and Arsaces, than that 
of the Medes, Persians, and Macedonians in general, but yet 
without making them remarkable by impossible actions, or extrava- 
gant inventions. 

In an address to the reader appended to the fifth and last 
part of the romance, La Calprenede discusses more specifi- 
cally his departure from historical fact. 

You will have the patience I hope to read these few Lines I 
am obliged to add, that I may justify part of those things which 
I have written. I have been bound up in many Passages of this 
Conclusion by the truth of History, though perhaps I have altered 
it in some places, where it is least known. If I make Statira and 

1 p. 237. 



24 Herbert Wynford Hill 

her Sister live again contrary to the report of Plutarch, who says 
she was killed by Roxana's cruelty; I have followed the Opinion 
of many Historians, and I make her pass the rest of her life in 
countries very remote from those where she spent her younger 
years, and under a different name from that by which she was known 
to Plutarch. I well might give Darius a son without contradicting 
the Historians that write of Alexander, who only mention his 
Daughters; I make him dead in the opinion of the World before 
Alexander entered upon his Father's Territories, he comes thither 
no more till after his death, and therefore those Authors might 
well have been ignorant of Artaxerxes his life, he having passed 
it in very far Countries, and under another name, after he 
had lost it in the general beUef. I with the same Ucence might 
make him to be the Great Arsaces, who founded the Empire of 
the Parthians: and Historians not having given him any certain 
birth, have afforded me the liberty to make him be born of Darius : 
I should undoubtedly have made him recover his Father's Empire, 
if I could have done it without falsifying truths which are known 
to all the World, and which have left me a free disposing of my 
Adventures: I should have changed something in the destiny of 
Roxana and Cassander, if I might have been permitted, and if 
I had pardoned Roxana, in consideration of her sex, I should have 
killed Cassander to shew the punishment of Vice, as well as the 
recompense of Vertue; but the rest of his life was too well known 
by his Crimes, and by his ruUng in Greece. I have been freer in 
those of Perdiccas and his Brother; 'tis certain they were slain 
within a while after Alexander's death, by a Sedition amongst 
their Forces, and there is so little spoken of the particulars of their 
death, that I believed I might lawfully frame it to my History. 

This idea of introducing events that seem probable La 
Calprenede evidently kept constantly before him. He had 
already advanced it in his preface to Part II (p. 116) : 

I think nevertheless, though other beauties be wanting in it, 
one shall at least find few things that thwart either probabihty or 
decency; nay, to that degree, that I find most difficulty to accom- 
modate those passages to a liklihood, which are really in History. 
Methinks it does not ill mingled with Romance; and of those 



La Calprenede's Romances 25 

accidents that are feign'd, there are not many in which I could be 
contradicted, if I would make them pass for true. 

And again in the letter to Calista prefaced to Part IV 
(p. 342) ■} 

If all the adventures of it are not equal, and if you find some 
places in them not so strong, nor so diverting as others, you will be 
pleased to consider, that my invention has not had an entire 
liberty, and that it has been rack'd by Chronology, by the truth 
of the History, and by those things I had already written; and in 
short, that I have been put to it, as many others would have been, 
to make Darius his son passe his time handsomely in Scythia, 
whilst his country was laid desolate, and his father deprived of 
his Empire, and of his life, by Alexander's victorious forces. Yet 
in this encounter, and in many others, which truly have kept me 
in troublesome constraint, I have stuck to probabiUty as much as 
I possibly could, and have made up a story which in mine own 
opinion is not the most defective of this piece. 

The historians quoted are the ones to whom he is most 
indebted — Plutarch, Justin,^ and Quintus Curtius.^ From 
all of these he drew numerous details. He is especially 
indebted to Justin for the remarkable combat between 
Lysimachus and the lion; and to Quintus Curtius for the 
account of the defeat of Darius at the hands of Alexander. 

In Cleopatra La Calprenede is little hampered by the 
historical sources, nor does he depend on them to any con- 
siderable extent for his phrasing. Robert Loveday in the 
preface to his translation (ed. of 1674) writes: 

If thou beest an Historian, thou wilt trace his ingenius Pen 
through Tacitus, Florus, Suetonius, and others that wrote Augustus 
life, and find with what skilful method he hath culled such Flowers 
from each of their Gardens, as was fittest to beautifie his Garland, 

But the quantity of flowers so culled is almost inconsider- 
able. Another historical source that might be mentioned 

1 Lit. transl. of preface, Tome 7, Partie 4, Livre I, ed. of 1645. 

2 Translated into French in 1616. ' Translated into French in 1653. 



26 Herbert Wynford Hill 

in passing is Flavins Josephus, from whom he took many- 
details in the story of Tyridates and Mariamne.^ 

The situations and incidents of Cassandra were not drawn 
to any considerable extent from the Greek romances; in fact 
the only incident of much importance to be so derived is 
that of the execution of slaves in the place of the heroine and 
her sister {Cassandra, p. 243). In Tatius^ a slave is executed 
in the heroine's place to deceive the hero and at another time 
the hero sees the heroine apparently killed.^ 

In Cleopatra, however, there are numerous parallels to 
situations and incidents of the Greek romances. The hero- 
ine is frequently shipwrecked {Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 211, 
473, 523; Part II, pp. 114, 344, 523: and compare with Helio- 
dorus,^ 136; Tatius, 402, etc.). She is captured by pirates 
{Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 75, 206; Part II, pp. 53, 258; Helio- 
dorus, p. 17; Longus Daphnis & Chloe (Bohn ed.), p. 281; 
Tatius, p. 440, etc.). The hero and the heroine fall in love 
at an extremely early age. In Cleopatra the most remark- 
able example of this precocity is that of Alexander and Arte- 
missa, aged ten and eight years respectively, who fall seriously 
in love and converse in the most approved heroic style (cf. 
pp. 274, Daphnis & Chloe, p. 267, and Clitopho and Leu- 
cippe, p. 355). The heroine is sold as a slave {Cleopatra, Part 
II, p. 54 ; Clitopho and Leucippe, p. 450) . A brother attempts 
to seduce the heroine {Cleopatra, Part I, p. 467; Clitopho 
and Leucippe, 463, where at the beginning of the romance 
the hero is engaged to his half-sister). The story of Cae- 
sario-Candace in the Cleopatra has borrowed many details 
from the Aethiopian History of Heliodorus. In both, the 
hero, a visitor, falls in love with the daughter of Hidaspes, 

1 Cf. The Jewish War, Book I, chap. xxii. 

2 The Loves of Clitopho and Leucippe (Bohn ed., 1855), p. 440. 
5 P. 410. Sidney uses the incident in his Arcadia. 

* An Aethiopian History (Tudor transl.). 



La Calprenede's Romances 27 

king of Aethiopia. This daughter is miraculously white. 
The hero and heroine travel from the kingdom into a series 
of wonderful adventures: they are captured repeatedly, 
together and separately, by pirates and rivals; they are ship- 
wrecked. The pirate chief falls in love with the heroine; 
the heroine is loved by the Roman praetor and by a native 
Aethiopian of obscure birth. The hero is loved by an 
unscrupulous woman in power. The force of these resem- 
blances is strengthened by the similarity in the accounts of 
the great wealth at the Aethiopian court ; in the introduction 
of the scene on the battlefield at night where the woman 
weeps over the body of a dear one; and by the names common 
to Heliodorus and La Calprenede of Oroondates, Hidaspes, 
Alcamenes, and Arsace.' 

The Arthurian romances furnished La Calprenede with 
very few situations and incidents. The use of disguise, the 
introduction of tournaments, scorn of wealth, banishment, 
imprisonment, rescue of heroine from rivals, are of course 
conventional with the Arthurian romances. Artaban's 
shifting from side to side carrying victory with him is paral- 
leled frequently (cf. Launcelot). The incident where Oroon- 
dates, by donning the armor of a knight whom he has slain, 
lures on an enemy to his death has a parallel in Liheaus Des- 
conus, and The Faerie Queene. 

The later romances furnished very little in the way of 
incident or situation. There are, however, numerous paral- 
lels; and in some cases evidence of relationship is unmistak- 
able. Barclay's Argenis suggested the story of Orontes and 
Thalestris.^ In Primaleon of Greece there are two situations 

1 Not all of these are used in the Caesario story but are found elsewhere 
in La Calprenede's romances. 

2 Cf. Cassandra, pp. 164, for La Calprenede's version; and, for Barclay's 
presentation, the story of Theocrine, Argenis, Book III, chaps. viii4-. The 
Argenis was flrst published in Latin in 1621. Other editions appeared in 



28 Herbert Wynford Hill 

parallel to situations in Cassandra and Cleopatra: one where 
Edward turns gardener in order to be near his mistress/ and 
another where the hero is made to challenge himself to a 
combat.^ 

THE STYLE OF Cassaudra and Cleopatra 
Cassandra. — In an address to the reader prefacing the 
second part of Cassandra, La Calprenede writes (p. 116):^ 

As for other matters, seek neither for Science, nor for j&ne 
Discourse, perchance thou shalt find neither in this Piece; and I 
may say unfeignedly, it is written with too little pains, or rather 
with too little care, to hope for anything studyed, or delicate in it. 
In what I write (after my obedience to an absolute command) my 
only aim is to divert myself; and I find no other advantage in 
this employment, and I am very far from pretending glory from 
a thing which I have not own'd, and which I will forsake when I 
can no longer disavow it. 

A modern reader certainly would be justified in consider- 
ing these remarks as merely a display of becoming modesty. 
To one, however, acquainted with the fine style of Mile 
Scudery, they have some point. In Clelia* we find her 

1622, 1627, 1630, 1634, 1642, 1655, 1659 (two eds.). 1664 (two eds.), 1671, 
1673. It was translated into English — the prose by R. Le Grys, the verses by 
F. L. May — in 1629; and again, this time by Kingsmill Long, in 1636, an edi- 
tion "beautified with Pictures Together with a Key to unlock the whole 
Story"; and again in 1772 by "a Lady." It was translated into Itahan in 
1629, into French in 1632, 1732; and into German in 1644 and 1770. 

1 Primaleon, pp. 77; Cassandra, pp. 58. 

2 Primaleon, pp. 188; Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 151. The edition of Prima- 
leon referred to is that of 1619. The title-page reads as follows: 

"The Famous and renowned history of Primaleon of Greece Sonne to the 
great and mighty Prince Palmerin d'Olivia, Emperor of Constantinople 
Describing his Knightly deeds of Arms, as also the memorable adventures of 
Prince Edward of England; and continuing the former history of Palmendos, 
brother to the fortimate Prince Primaleon &. The First Book translated out 
of French & Italian into EngUsh by A. M. London 1619." 

' Literal translation of preface of French ed. of 1644, Tome 3, Partie II, 
Livre I. This preface is cut at the beginning, but in the passage quoted the 
translation is faithful. 

4 Part IV, Book II, p. 541, ed. of 1678. 



La Calprenede's Romances 29 

theory of how a heroic romance should be written. One of 
the characters (Plotina) speaks: 

Were I to invent a History, I think I should make things much 
more perfect than they are. All Women should be admirably fair, 
and all Men should be as valiant as Hector, all my Heroes should 
slay at least a hundred men in every battel, I would build Palaces 
of precious stones, I would make Prodigies fall out every moment, 
and without troubUng myself to invent with judgment, I should 
suffer my fancy to act as it pleased; so that seeking out only 
surprising events, without examining, whether they were consistent 
to reason or no, I should certainly make very extraordinary things; 
a continual Ship wracks, burning of Bities,' and a thousand like 
other accidents, which occasion handsome lamentations and descrip- 
tions. 
To which Anacrion replies — 

Should you invent a History after the manner you speak of, 
amiable Plotina, (said he)you would do a thing no doubt sufficiently 
strange; for with rare Events, wonderful Descriptions, heroical 
Actions, extraordinary Matters, and Palaces of Precious Stones, 
you would make one of the lewdest Fables than can be possibly 
invented; there being without doubt nothing worse, than to see 
things of this nature made without order and reason .... when 
you invent a Fable, your purpose is to be believ'd, and the true art 
of Fiction is handsomely to resemble truth, etc. 

And another speaker (Hermineus) says — 

And as diversity or variety is the Soul of the World, he ought to 
take heed of making all men Heroes, all Women equally fair, the 
dispositions and humors of all particular persons alike and cor- 
respondent, and Love, Anger, Jealousie, Hatred, to produce always 
the same effects. On the contrary, he must imitate that admirable 
variety, which is seen in all men, according to the example of 
Homer. 

Anacrion further says (p. 542), speaking of historical 
romances : 

For when names of Countreys are employed, which all the 
world hears of, and wherewith Geography is exactly acquainted; 

1 Evidently misprint for Cities. 



30 Herbert Wynford Hill 

and when great events are made use of, which are sufficiently- 
known, the mind is wholly dispos'd to suffer itself to be seduc'd, 
and to receive the fiction together with the truth, provided it be 
handsomely interwoven, and the Writer take pains to study the 
Age well he makes choice of, to improve all the rarities of it, and 
to conform to the customs of places he treats of, not to mention 
Laurels in Countreys where there was never any seen, not to con- 
found the Rehgions or Customs of Nations that are to be introduc'd; 
though they may with judgment be a little drawn to the usage of 
the present age, to the end they be more delightful; I am confident 
if this be observ'd, and they which are introduc'd in a Fable of 
this nature, speak well, the passions be well pointed out, the 
adventures be natural and prudently invented, all the little matter 
which discover the bottom of mens hearts, be pertinently plac'd; 
Vice be blam'd, Virtue rewarded, and Variety dispers'd through 
the whole, without confusion, if the fancy be always subject to 
the judgment, extraordinary events be rationally grounded; if 
there be knowledge, without affectation, delight, ornament, and 
pleasantness, wherever it is necessary; if the style be neither too 
high nor too low, and no violence offer'd to decency and good 
manners; I am confident, I say, such a Work will please all that 
read it, be more delightful to them than a History, and withal be 
more profitable. 

No one can read a page of Mile Scudery's romance with- 
out feeling a constant straining after the effects described 
above. Far more stress is laid on the delicate phrasing of 
polite conversation or love letters, or on the devising of 
ingenious details for embroidering the narration, than on 
the effective advancement of the story itself. The plot 
serves primarily to bring together models of stilted conver- 
sation, artificial letters and verses, and ingenious methods 
of social diversion. 

Compared to Mile Scudery, surely La Calprenede may 
lay claim to a simple style. Read in time of leisure w^hen 
the fancy runs free it is surprising how fascinating the 
romances become: the style soon slips below the surface of 



La Calprenede's Romances 31 

things to be noticed and the characters move and have their 
being in a world, irnUke our own to be sure, but in one per- 
fectly suited to them and in itself interesting. If one gives 
himself up to the genius of the place he finds nothing to scoff 
at, nothing that jars; all is painted in purple and gold, but 
the colors blend well; there is no incongruity, no lack of 
harmony. 

Polemon's home, the scene of activities in the first part 
of the romance, is thus described. 

Polemon's house was seated at the foot of a little hill, about 
five or six hundred paces from the Euphrates; on that side toward 
the River it was sheltered with a high Wood, which reached from 
the Garden walls almost to the Bank of it; on that toward the hill 
there were many Vineyards, and on the other two an open plain 
of a vast and spacious breadth; on the side towards Babylon it 
spread itself to the very Gates, and on the other as far as the Temple 
of Apollo. It was in that, the Princes caused their Army to encamp, 
covering themselves on the side toward their Enemies with the 
wood, and with the Hill. 

The City of Babylon, where the rest of the direct action 
is placed, is presented as follows : ' 

The great City of Babylon (the stately Work of vaUant 
Semiramis, and then considered as one of the wonders of the 
World) is seated on both sides of the Euphrates, which passing 
between its buildings, divides the Town into two equal parts; 
they are joyned together by many Bridges, and principally by one 
very great one of Stone, different in matter from its other Buildings, 
and considerable for its breadth, height, and marvellous structure. 
The Banks of the River are kept up with two Brick Walls, and 
have high large Causies on each side, which yet would not be able 
to stop the impetuousness of the Stream, when it is swelled with 
Rain, if there were not deep open places at certain distances. 
.... There was to be seen that miracle of a Hanging Garden, 
so cried up by Ancient Writers, where in Earth carried thither 
with an admirable industry and sustained by Pillars of two hundred 

1 P. 473. 



32 Herbert Wynford Hill 

foot high, there grew Trees whose Branches seemed to touch the 
Clouds, presenting tufted Forrests to the eye of Passengers above 
the tops of the highest Buildings. 

These two descriptions are not very highly colored and 
are distinctly from the point of view of the soldier. In 
nearly every case the descriptions of places are slight, as in 
that of the Garden of Abdolomius, which he passes over with 
the remark "It is not necessary for me to describe the beauty 
of a place which you have often seen." In the course of 
what happens in the next page or two we learn that this 
garden possesses a grot, secret arbors, fountains, and murmur- 
ing rivulets; but these details are woven into the story. In 
the following description we have a good example of his 
method:^ 

We were in a very close Arbour, yet from it we might see the 
gate of the Garden, and know all that was done in it, without 
being perceiv'd. We saw the Ladies part several ways, according 
to their different inclinations: The Queens began to walk in the 
broad Alley, which went along the side of a little stream. The 
Princess Parisatis, with Apamia, and Arsinoe, Artabasus his 
daughters, and sisters to Barsina, withdrew into an Arbour; and 
the Princess Statira making a great cushion to be carried by Cleone, 
the dearest of her maids of honor, walk'd toward a Grot, where there 
was a pleasing Fountain. My Prince having seen her pass by, gave 
her the leisure to retire as she intended, and a while after slipt 
through a covered Alley, which led unseen unto that Grot. He 
gave me leave to follow him, and going softly, and without noise, 
we came into the entry of it; my Master trembling with love and 
respect, was even like a lost man; but he was much more so when 
drawing near his Princess, he saw her laid along by the edge of the 
Fountain, and already fain asleep upon the Cushion which Cleone 
had brought her. 

He often uses a setting appropriate to the mood of his 
characters as in the following description. 

1 Cassandra, p. 56. 



La Calpkenede's Romances 33 

Cassandra, p. 495' 
She had some other discourses with herself, full of irresolution, 
when she entred into the Wood, that had been shewed her, and there 
upon the green swarth she lost that track, she had followed, and 
wandered about a great while among the Trees. That Wood had 
something more wild and savage in it than others, and was more 
suitable than ordinary, to a melancholy solitary humor : The Trees 
were of an excessive height, and with age were almost covered with 
Moss and Ivy; their tufted Branches cast a shade, which even at 
high noon, defended a great deal of the ground from the sun's 
most piercing Beams, among the Trees one might see many pieces 
of Rock overgrown also with Moss, and for the most part dropping 
with a clear Water, which moystened the Grass round about them, 
and which with the help of certain little Springs, turned insensibly 
into a little Rivulet: The place was rugged and unfit for walking 
as well by reason of the Rocks, as of thick Bryars and Bushes that 
stopt the passage, and shewed, it was but very little frequented. 
The Princess roved about a while, where it was passable with least 
inconveniency; and though she was almost out of hope, she found 
some pleasure (nevertheless) in visiting a place so unfrequented, 
and so conformable to the pensive humor she had long been in. 

It is only occasionally that La Calprenede goes into such 
details as we find in the following description of the Temple 
of Apollo." 

The Platform of it was a Pentagone, and the Frontespiece 
appeared in Perspective, between two rowes of trees of an extraor- 
dinary height, which made a long Walk whose other end reach'd 
to the bank of the River. This Front was marvelously high, 
beautified with many Statues, and particularly with two Marble 
Pillars of an excessive height, upon which the God Apollo, and 
the Goddess his Sister, were placed in their Chariots. The Gates 
were Cedar, standing on the top of five or six Steps, of the fairest 
Parian Marble that was ever seen: the Floor of the Temple was 
Paved with the same, and the Walls were all adorned with Pictures, 
which represented the most famous actions of that God [follows a 
list of these pictures] 

1 Literal translation of Cassandre, Tome 9, Partie V, Livre 2, p. 308. 

2 Cassandra, p. 36. 



34 Herbert Wynford Hill 

In his description of his heroines La Calpren^de exercises 
less restraint; the following description of Berenice is 
thoroughly characteristic/ 

Cassandra, p. 216 

Both of them were exactly perfect, but that of Berenice's was 
the more delicate, her skin whiter, her features milder, and more 
suitable to her sex; she had something in her eyes so bright and 
piercing, that a heart must of necessity either be stupid or strongly 
prepossessed, if it could bear her looks without alteration. As she 
was neither fair nor brown so were her eyes neither grey nor black, 
but their color holding something of both, accompanied that of her 
hair, which hkewise being neither fair nor black, had borrowed a 
shadow of each, that made a clear auburn colour, incomparably 
more beautiful than either; her face was little, but it had naturally 
all the fullness that was necessary to form a complete oval, and 
though she was slender, her neck and hands were plump, and mar- 
vellously well proportioned; her looks and all her motions were 
accompanied with a natural sweetness which showed itself plainly 
in the smallest of her actions; and though her countenance were 
truly full of Majesty, yet was it one of those which strike less fear 
than love, which seldom own themselves with hghtenings and thun- 
ders, able to cloud their ordinary serenity, and which iU accommo- 
date themselves to the motions of the soul, when they are set at 
work by anger. 

The sentences are for the most part long.^ Balance is 
frequent : almost any page will furnish sentences like this :^ 

If one of us must die, 'tis I alone, I alone am guilty, perjured, 
faithless; and you are still innocent, still firm, still constant; I am 
she who have unworthily betrayed you, and basely forsaken you, and 
you are he who hath too generously, and too faithfully lov'd me. 

1 Koerting says that La Calprenede lists the details in the following order: 
"Haltung, Gang, Teint, Augen, Mund, Zahne, Haare, Busen, Hande." A 
more complete analysis of his character, description, and presentation ■will be 
foxmd below in the discussion of the Cleopatra. 

2 Cf . the discussion of sentence length under Cleopatra. 
» P. 106. 



La Calprenede's Romances 35 

Sometimes the balance is sustained through a half-column 
folio as in Lysimachus' speech beginning on p. 148.^ A 
brief passage will suffice to illustrate its character. 

Hephestion has the happiness to possess her, and Lysimachus 
the glory to die for her. If I have been jealous of Hephestion's 
fortune, he ought to envy my destiny; and if his passion could not 
be more happily recompenced, mine could not have a more honor- 
able conclusion. 

The balance is generally simple, without any further 
artificial arrangements. Sometimes the author cannot 
resist exhibiting his ingenuity in more involved balance, as 
in the following : 

Cassandra, p. 567 
In Berenice's face there was more sweetness, but more majesty 
in Statira's: yet in that difference, Statira's majesty was so sweet 
and Berenice's sweetness so Majestick, that all the other beauties 
in the world could not have shown so great a sweetness, and so 
great a Majesty together. 

Nor does he hesitate to balance the abstract with the 
concrete. Lysimachus says :^ 

I left my bed, and my chamber, but not that mortal sorrow, 
which ought to have brought me to my grave, etc., 

and Thalestris speaks in similar fashion :^ 

All the favors he had stoln from me, all the familiarities I had 
innocently granted him, came thronging into my memory, and 
making a mixture of shame and anger, kindled in my face a colour 
like fire, and in my mind a deadly wrath. 

The style although not ornate is well colored with figures 
of speech. It is said of Oroondates:* 

His fire was kindled again by this recital, and so much of his 
affection as was smothered by the behef of his Princesses infidehty, 

1 Cf. p. 97 for another as long and balanced throughout. 

2 Cassandra, p. 149. ' Ibid., p. 170. ■" Ibid., p. 92. 



36 Herbert Wynford Hill 

broke forth again into such a violent flame, by the knowledge of 
her innocence, that he became more ardent, and more passionate 
than ever. 

Parisatis and Statira are described leaning their cheeks 
against each others':^ 

Their tears mixt themselves confusedly with such a grace, that 
in that amiable disorder wherein love languished with pity, sadness 
appeared in its chiefest triumph. 

Lysimachus thus describes the effect of his second sight 
of Parisatis i^ 

In this interim my condition was very much changed, and that 
second sight of Parisatis had so weakened my heart that it was no 
longer able to defend itself, nor to avoid those mortal wounds, 
which it hath so dearly conserved, and wherof it neither can nor 
will be cured, but by the end of my life alone. Sorrow appeared so 
charming in the countenance of that dear^ prostrate Lady, and her 
eyes, though full of water, threw such piercing darts at me, that 
being quite surcharged with love and compassion, I went forth 
with the King in such a perplexity, that I had much ado to know 
where I was. When I was gotten into my Tent, her Idea came yet 
more strongly into my remembrance, and notwithstanding aU the 
attempts I made to blot it out, my passion being whetted by that 
difficulty, assaulted me with greater violence, and seem'd to inflame 
itself with anger, at the resistance I made against an affection that 
was so glorious to me. 

Sustained personification of the passions and emotions 
are the most frequent figures employed. The illustrations 
cited might be duplicated from nearly any page; one more 
example will be sufficient :^ 

His jealousie encreasing by the strength of appearances, grew 
then so insolent, as to dispute for superiority with his joy; and 
indeed it had not so little power, but that it held his mind for some 

1 Cassandra, p. 120. 2 Ibid., p. 122. 

3 The Folio reads fear, evidently a misprint. 
< P. 202. 



La Calprenede's Romances 37 

time wavering in suspence; but in the end the excellencie of his 
nature, and of his affection, which was absolutely pure, and dis- 
interested, gave joy the upper hand, and made him more satisfied 
with the life of his Princess, than afflicted with her inconstancy. 

La Calprenede is fond of light and color: the sparkle of the 
dew, the flashing of armor in the sun, and the glitter of 
jewels light up the pages of the romance. The lovely daugh- 
ters of Darius lay aside mourning at the close and appear in 
"all those embellishments which the misfortunes of their life 
had made them to neglect." 

Then Gold and Jewels of inestimable value glittered with a 
Magnificence suitable to the quality of those Great Princesses, 
and their Beauty receiving its former lustre by those exterior 
Ornaments, after having been a long time buryed in afflictions, 
shew'd it self like the Sun, when after tedious Storms, and foggy 
Mists, it breaks forth of the Cloud that had obscured it, and appears 
to our eyes again with its usual brightness. 

The figures rarely pass the bounds of good taste; only 
occasionally does one encounter such comparisons as that 
made of Oroondates, who "as a young Lion wakens his anger 
with his tail, animated his courage by the remembrance of 
his losses." On the whole the style although diffuse is 
vigorous; and although rhetorical is not florid. 

Cleopatra. — The setting of the Cleopatra is drawn with 
a firmer hand and more abundantly along certain lines. 
There are more sketches of landscapes and bowers and 
gardens. Fuller pictures of the social life of the time are 
furnished; a ball, a hunt, and a gladiatorial combat are pre- 
sented in detail. Greater emphasis is laid on social graces; 
the atmosphere is more formal. The descriptive range of 
Cleopatra is accordingly wider than that of Cassandra, but 
as a rule the descriptions are shorter. This is especially 



38 Herbert Wynford Hill 

true of landscapes: springs, fountains, brooks, and glades 
flourish but are disposed of in a line or two.' 

Formal gardens and bowers figure more prominently in 
Cleopatra than in Cassandra.^ 

This Noble Assembly, the noblest haply that the whole Uni- 
verse could have afforded, went all together into a spacious walk, 
covered in a manner with trees of extraordinary height and abutted, 
as all the rest did, upon a large Basin of Water which is in the 
midst of the Garden, having in it one principal figure which may 
be seen from all the extremities, and that is a Neptune, placed in the 
midst of the water, seated in his Chariot, drawn by Tritons, and 
holding in his right hand his Trident, which at the three points 
of it cast forth water to a greater height than the highest trees of 
the Garden. He is compassed about by a hundred Nereids of 
Alablaster, disposed about the extremities of the Basis, in a hundred 
several postures placed at equal distances within a row of Pilasters 
of white marble, by which it is encompassed. From this place, 
by the means of twelve spacious walks, which abutt there, may be 
seen all the extremities of the Garden, and the end of every walk 
is remarkable for some object that does a certain pleasant violence 
on the sight, and surprises the Spectator in twelve different manners. 
That particular walk into which we were gotten, entertained our 
eyes only with the gate of the Garden, and a prospect of Rome; 
but all the rest end either with perspectives, made with so much art 
that they deceive the sight, even to the extremity thereof; or with 
grotts, admirable as well for the variety of shells, and the Nacre 
whereof they are built, as for the diversity of the springs and 
figures, whereby they are adorned, or with Arbours miraculous for 
their structure, or lastly with descents of water, ordered with such 
extraordinary artifice, as that falling from an excessive height upon 
a many several steps, it makes a confused but withal, a pleasant 
noise, and so runs into a number of httle channels, which border 
the Walks in divers places, cross them in divers others, so that 
people are forced to go over them upon Bridges, having on both 
sides Pilasters of Marble. 

1 "It was a most delightful Spring whose natural beauty, a little Art 
had very much augmented; the source was clear and lively, the grass green 
and fresh round about, and, by a great tuft of Trees, embraced and defended 
from the Sun, and the sight of passengers" (Vol. II, p. 127). 

^Cleopatra, Vol. II. 



La Calprenede's Romances 39 

This turning to formal gardens and bowers is in part a 
concession to the following of the school of Scudery. Cer- 
tainly Mile Scudery herself never surpassed in her most 
fanciful flights the following description of a love galley : ' 

The boat was in the form of a little Galley compassed about 
by a row of Pilasters, which seemed to be of gold, but was indeed 
of wood guilt; without which hung out a hundred arms gilt as the 
row of Pilasters, which sustained a hundred great torches of virgin 
wax, whereby the darkness of the night was removed to the distance 
of many stadia. The oars seemed to be of gold proportionably to 
all the rest, and the Rowers were twelve little Cupids winged, 
armed with arrows and quiver, and covered with cloth of gold in 
those parts of their bodyes where it was not requisite they should be 
naked. At the extremity of the stern grew up a golden tree, of 
the height of an ordinary mast having at the top the form of a 
Scuttle, compassed about by a row of golden Pilasters and twelve 
arms proportionable to those below, wherein were twelve torches 
and in the midst of all that sight was a Heart hanging down, which 
seemed to be all on fire, and out of which by some strange artifice, 
there visible issued flames ascending up towards the stars, and 
made more light than all the torches. In the distances which were 
between the torches were hung up twelve streamers, which were 
tost up and down by the flames, and the smoke a thousand several 
wayes, and in which by reason of the greatnesse of the light there 
might be distinctly seen double A.A.'s with other characters, 
expressing several waies the word ANTONIA. The same Letters 
and the same Characters were disposed up and down all over 
the boat, as also upon the Pilasters, the oars and the mast, 
and it was so lightsom everywhere, that the least things could 
not be more distinctly discerned than they were at that time. 

The descriptions of the heroines do not differ materially 
from those in Cassandra. The following presentation of 
Elisa is thoroughly characteristic. 

Our former description of Candace's beauty dispences with 
a farther recital, but we should deal unjustly with the fair unknown, 

> Vol. I, p. 221. 



40 Herbert Wynford Hill 

should we hide them in silence, in whom the Queen found many- 
delicacies that had a far better title to her wonder, than the Praetor's 
relation could challenge, the new fain -snow was tanned in com- 
parison of the refined purity of that white that was the ground of 
her complexion, and if sorrow had gathered the carnations of her 
cheeks, sham'd^ to see herself surpriz'd half naked, though by 
persons of her own sex, had replanted of hers there, with such 
fresh advantages, as any weaker eye than Candace's would have 
shrunk at the brightness of that mingled lustre; her mouth (as 
well for shape as complexion) shamed the imitation of the best 
Pensils, and the liveliest colours; and though some petty intervals 
of joy wanted the smiles that grief had sequestred, yet she never 
opened it, but like the East at the birth of a beautiful day, and 
then discovered Treasures, whose excelling whiteness made the 
price inestimable; all the features of her face had so neer a kindred 
of proportion and symetry, as the severest Master of Appelles 
Art might have called it his glory to have copied beauties from her, 
as the best of Models. The circumference of her usage, shewed 
the extremes of an imperfect Circle, and almost formed it to a 
perfect Oval, and this abridgment of marvels was taper'd by a pair 
of the brightest stars that ever were lighted up by the hand of 
Nature: as their lustre might justly claim the title of Celestial, 
so their colour was the same with Heavens, there was a spherical 
harmony in their motion, and that mingled with a vivacity so 
penetrating as neither firmest eye, nor the strongest soul could 
arm themselves with a resistance of proof against those pointed 
glories, their very languishing dejection darted more charms 
through the clouds of griefs, that darkned their brightest glory, 
than all the others could boast in their clearest Sunshine; nor were 
they ever so dim'd with woe, but they had still vigour enough left 
to open themselves a passage to hearts defended with the greatest 
insensibility; her head was crowned with a prodigious quantity 
of fair long hair, whereof the colour as fitly suited the beauty of 
her eyes, as imagination could make it. To these marvels of face 
were joyned the rest of her neck, hands, and shape, and there 
seemed a contest betwixt the form and whiteness of the two former, 

1 Evidently a typographical error for shame; cf. the French "la honte 
qu'elle," etc. The error crept in through the following contracted participle, 
"surpriz'd." 



La Calprenede's Romances 41 

which had the larger commission from Natm-e to work wonders; 
and if she were not so tall of stature as Candace, in revenge of that 
she was far more slender, and her face much less than the fair 
Queen of Aethiopia's. In fine her beauty was miraculous. 

From the passage just quoted it is evident that the 
sentences are very long. The sentences and paragraphs are 
so long in the French as to make a page forbidding work to 
the modern reader who is accustomed to the frequent help 
of paragraph divisions. This is only partly a matter of 
structure. It is largely a matter of punctuation. Take, 
for instance, the first sentence of this passage and repunc- 
tuate it without any other change.' 

Our former description of Candace's beauty dispenses with a 
farther recital. But we should deal unjustly with the fair unknown 
should we hide them in silence in whom the Queen found many 
delicacies that had a far better title to her wonder than the Praetor's 
relation could challenge. The new fain snow was tanned in com- 
parison of the refined purity of that white that was the ground of 
her complexion. And if sorrow had gathered the carnations of 
her cheeks, shame to see herself surpriz'd half naked, though by 
persons of her own sex, had replanted of hers there with such fresh 
advantages as any weaker eye than Candace's would have shrunk 
at the brightness of that mingled lustre. Her mouth as well for 
shape as Complexion shamed the imitation of the best Pensils 
and the liveliest colours. And though some petty intervals of 
joy wanted the smiles that grief had sequestered; yet she never 
opened it but like the East at the birth of a beautiful day, and then 
discovered Treasures whose excelling whiteness made the price 
inestimable. All the features of her face had so near a kind of 
proportion and sjonmetry as the severest Master of Appelles Art 
might have called it his glory to have copied beauties from her as 
the best of Models, etc. 

In the description of battles and single combats the 
action is often rapid and the sentences short. 
Balance is as frequent as in Cassandra. 

1 In the French the whole description is punctuated as one sentence 
down to "In fine." 



42 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Cleopatra, Vol. II, p. 380 

O ye Gods, cried I, is it possible that Tullia, the object of my 
adorations, should be reduced to those extremities for a person's 
sake who is not in the least sensible of her sufferings ? and that he 
who, is ready to die for her dares not hope for any part of that 
which another so ungratefully disdains! Tullia what cruel 
Destiny reigns over thee, that thou must love him that shuns thee, 
and art so insensible of his devotions that dies for thee! Ptolomey, 
is there any necessity that thou shouldst be possessor of a Good 
thou dost contemn, and that thy unfortunate Friend should derive 
from that Good, which thou deprivest him of without the lea§t 
enjojonent to thyself, all his hopes and all the happiness of his 
life! O Lentulus, must thou needs fall in love with Tullia, whose 
soul is insusceptible of all impressions other then what it hath 
received for Ptolomey or shouldst thou hate Ptolomey, who, though 
not chargeable with any such designs will prove the occasion of 
all thy unhappiness. 

The style is highly figurative. Almost any page will 
furnish a passage like the following: 

Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 78 

But Oh! what a number of bitter plaints and hoUow sighs did 
that sad remembrance tear from his mouth and heart: and how 
fitly did the blacks of the night suit with the mourning which his 
soul had put on: to him the darkest shades were far more welcome 
and agreeable than the brightest beams that could spring from the 
active treasury of Light, and not well enduring the day, ever since 
the eclipse of those fair hopes that enlightened his soul, he found 
some comfort in an obscurity conform'd to that of his spirit that 
helpt him to wrap it in a dull cloud of heavy thoughts; and thus 
having quitted the care of himself, the day appear'd, before the 
repose of his body could give an hours calm to the storms of his 
mind. He no sooner spy'd the new-born light shoot itself through 
the windows of his Chamber, when saluting it with some sighs, 
"How importunate is this bright intruder! (cry'd he) how sensibly 
dost thou aggravate the vexations of a wretch, which should be 
intomb'd in an eternal night ?" 



La Calprenede's Romances 43 

The conventional kinds of pathetic fallacy common to 
the pastoral romance are present, although not in abun- 
dance. If the heroine falls into the ocean the waves are 
proud of the privilege of courting and kissing the fairest 
lady that Nature ever framed (Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 2). The 
wind amorously sports with her hair (Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 
319; IV. Partie de Cleopdtre, Liv. Ill, p. 430) and freely kisses 
her celestial countenance (Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 359; IV. Partie 
de Cleopdtre, Liv. IV, p. 774), and the earth which sustains 
her beautiful body seems to produce new grass to receive 
her the more agreeably (Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 319; IV. Partie 
de Cleopdtre, Liv. Ill, p. 429). 

Generally the figures are well sustained but it is not diffi- 
cult to find passages where the figures shift with kaleido- 
scopic rapidity, as in the following passage:' 

Ingratitude and Cruelty are the blackest of all vices, and so 
soon as the Soul of a Prince has once taken their indelible stains, 
all that he had before of great and good is put to flight by that 
strong poison which entirely seizes his inclinations and scarce leaves 
him any shade or trace of vertue. The former is oft the Child of 
that Pride which is the tumour of prosperity; and if the latter 
does not rise from a root in our nature, it often springs from the 
womb of an irregular ambition, which usurping the throne of the 
will excites all thoughts that are the legitimate race of Reason, 
and shuts the eyes of those that are possessed with this Devil, 
upon every consideration that Piety, Justice and Honour itself 
can represent to their intoxicated judgment. 

1 Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 214; III. Partie de Cleopdtre, Liv. Ill, p. 375: " L'ln- 
gratitude & la cruaute sont les plus noir de tous les vices, & des que I'ame 
d'vn Prince est tache, tout ce qu'elle avait de bon & de grad se dissipe par ce 
venin qvii la corropt, toute entiere, & qui luy laisse a peine quelque ombre & 
quelque trace de vertu. La premier de ces deux vices n'aist souvent de 
Torgueil que nos prosperite nous inspirent ; & le dernier s'il ne vlent du naturel, 
tire souvent son origine d'lme ambition des reglee, qui s'emparat d'un esprit, 
en banit tous les sentimens raisonnables, & ferme les yeux de ceux qui en 
sont prevenus a toutes les cosiderations que la piete, la justice, & rhonneur 
mesme leur peuve trepresenter. 



44 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Loveday has, according to his usual practice, heightened 
the figures; and added some new touches that, in places, 
render the passage absurd. 

At tiriies the imagery borders on the grotesque, as in the 
following: ''.... whose memory I ought to embalm with 
tears refined from my purest blood" (Cleopatra, Vol. I, p. 
167; iii chap. Liv. I, p. 31, " . . . . de qui je devrois 
deplorer la perte avec des larmes tirees du plus pur & de plus 
precieux de mon sang . . . ."). Much of the grotesque in 
the translation is not found in the French. This is especially 
true where it consists in the turn of a single word as in the use 
of the word embalm above, or in such passages as "he vomited 
his first resentment" (Vol. I, p. 163) for, "il exprima ses 
premiers resetimes" (III, 1.2). 

The most characteristic features of the style of the heroic 
romances are circumlocution and exaggeration. La Cal- 
prenede's romances are no exception. The heroines rarely 
open their bright eyes to receive the light that they do not 
open them to let out tears; but they never merely weep. 
They break forth irito rivulets, brooks, and rivers of tears. 
Elisa (Liv. II, p. 495) feels a torrent of tears ready to force 
their passage to make an inundation of her countenance. 
This does not follow the French closely (cf. XII. Partie de 
CUopdtre Liv. II, p. 227, "sentant que les larmes for^oient 
ses paupieres pour sortir avec violence"). Cleopatra (Div. 
II, p. 354) is moved to so much compassion that a beautiful 
dew begins to break forth at her eyes. Candace is so sensibly 
touched by Tyridates' narration that she suffers compassion 
to steal some liquid pearls from her eyes. No modern writer 
would seriously introduce a speech as does Coriolanus (p. 
93): "Madam," said he, "if I may be permitted without 
offending the veneration I owe you, to undisguise a part of 
my sentiments, I must take the liberty to pay," etc. (cf. 



La Calprenede's Romances 45 

chap.ii, Liv. I, p. 128: "S'il m'est permis Madame," luy dit-il, 
"sans offencer le respect que je vous dois de declarer devant 
vous une partie de mes sentiments, je prendray la liberte de 
vous dire"). 

Everything is built to heroic proportions ; almost any page 
will furnish numerous examples of exaggeration. The pas- 
sages already cited are full of it. The heroes are all more 
than gods, and goddesses pale before the scintillating beauty 
of the heroines. Cleopatra, describing Antonia, says, "and 
though Heaven hath bestowed on her a Beauty of the first 
magnitude among those terrestrial constellations, whose 
influence the earth adores and is guided by, yet is this Beauty 
of her person much below that of her mind." Heroes and 
heroines alike flood rivers with their tears and warm the wind 
with their sighs. The level is uniformly elevated. 

THE SOURCES OF THE STYLE 

The Umits of our treatment do not admit a full discussion 
of the historical development of the methods of conducting 
the plot, or of the development of the style of the heroic 
romances; but a few of the main lines of growth may be 
pointed out.' 

Of the historians Curtius influenced La Calprenede's 
style the most strongly. In numerous places La Calprenede 
has translated Curtius literally, and the style of the historian 
slips almost insensibly into that of La Calprenede. The 
speech of Darius to his soldiers as they are about to encounter 
the forces of Alexander is translated in detail, nearly a 
thousand words. The last few sentences will illustrate the 
closeness of the translation. 

1 Cf. Professor Crane's introduction to his edition of Les hiros de roman 
for an excellent account of the development of the heroic romance. 



46 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Cassandra, p. 70 
I pray you by your house- 
hold god, by the eternal Fire we 
carry upon our Altar, by the light 
of the Sun, which rises within 
the hmits of my Empire, and by 
the memory of Cyrus, who 
added that of the Medes and 
Lydians to it, that you would 
save both the name and Nation 
of the Persians, from its utter 
ruine, and from its utter infamy, 
and leave that glory to your 
posterity which you received so 
entire from your Ancestors. 
You carry in your own hands, 
your goods, your lives, your liber- 
ties, and your future hopes and 
in your faces a most assured 
victory, I read it in your eyes, 
and in your march; he that 
despises death, avoids it best, 
and it soonest catches the fear- 
ful that file from it; Let's on 
therefore (fellow souldiers) whith- 
er so many considerations call 
us; I see the Enemies Army 
move, go and receive them 
courageously, or rather follow 
me, for I refuse not to lead you 
on and to be your example 
either of valour or cowardise. 

La Calprenede's account continues in a style so similar 
that one reluctantly accepts his originality: 

' 1660 ed. Crowne used this speech in his play, Darius (Act I, p. 12 of 
the first ed., 1688). A comparison ol the three texts convinced me that, 
here as in other parts of the play where the wording was almost identical 
with that of La Calprenede, Crowne had depended on Curtius rather than on 
La Calprenede. 



Curtius, Book IV, chap, xiv* 
Precor vos per Deos patrios, 
aeternumque ignem, qui prae 
fertur altaribus, fulgoremque 
soliis intra fines regni mei 
orientis, per aeternam me- 
moriam Cyri, qui ademptum 
Medis Lydisque imperium pri- 
mus in Persidem intulit, vindi- 
cate ab ultimo dedecore nomen 
gentumque Persarum. Ite 

alacres & spe pleni, ut quam 
gloriam accepistes a majoribus 
vestris, posteris relinquatis. In 
dextris vestris jam libertatem, 
opem, spem futuri temporis 
geritis. Effugit mortem, quis- 
quis contempserit : timidissi- 
mum quemque consequitur. 
Ipse, non patrio more solum, 
sed etiam ut conspicii possim, 
curru vehor. Nee recuso, quo 
minus imitemini me, sive forti- 
tudinis exemplum, sive ignavire, 
fuero. 



La Calprenede's Romances 47 

The King spake these words with a great deal of vehemence, 
and the soldiers answered them with a shout, that pierced the very 
clouds, from which he drew a good omen of the Victory. But the 
two Armies being so near, that they were upon the point of joining 
battle, all the Commanders ran to their charges, and my Master 
parting from the King who gave him his last embrace. "Sir (said 
he) I will either die generously to day, or restore unto your Majesty 
some parts of what you have lost." "Go Son (said the King) may 
the Gods take as great care of thy safety, as of mine own, and be 
so gracious, that I may see you again with much joy, as I part from 
you with sorrow." 

In the Greek romances, as in Cassandra and Cleopatra, 
oracles and dreams are used to further the plot development, 
and to a limited extent histories are introduced as a narrative 
device. Here we also find letters, and discourses on various 
topics. Tatius especially delighted in these discourses. 
The following on the comparative merits of masculine and 
feminine beauty is typical:^ 

"There can be no doubt," said Menelaus, "which is preferable. 
Youths are much more open and free from affectation than women, 
and their beauty stimulates the senses much more powerfully." 

"How so?" I asked, "it no sooner appears than it is gone. It 
affords no enjoyment to the lover, but is hke the cup of Tantalus, 
while one is drinking the liquid disappears; and even the little 
which has been swallowed is unsatisfying. No one can have such 
favorites without feeling his pleasure alloyed with pain. The 
draught of love still leaves him thirsty." 

"You do not understand," rejoined Menelaus, "that the per- 
fection of pleasure consists in its bringing with it no satiety; the 
very fact of its being of a permanent and satisfying kind takes 
away from its delight. What we snatch but now and then is 
always new, and always in full beautj^ Of such things the pleasure 
is not Uable to decay and age, and it gains in intensity what it 
loses by briefness of duration." 

1 Bohn ed., p. 396. 



48 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Frequently the author stops to philosophize on such 
subjects as anger and desire: 

These passions are like two fires in the soul; they differ in 
nature, but resemble each other in intensity; the former urges 
to hatred, the latter to love; the sources also of their respective 
flames are near to one another, anger having its seat in the heart, 
the hver being the abode of love [and so on, through another page]. 

In the story of Daphnis and Chloe we find many descrip- 
tions of Nature. Thus spring is described:^ 

It was the' beginning of spring, the flowers were in bloom 
throughout the woods, the meadows, and the mountains; there 
were the buzzings of the bee, the warblings of the songsters, the 
frolics of the lambs. The young of the flock were skipping on the 
mountains, the bees flew humming through the meadows, and the 
songs of the birds resounded through the bushes. Seeing all things 
pervaded with such unusual joy, they, young and susceptible as 
they were, imitated whatever they saw or heard. Hearing the 
carol of the birds they sang; seeing the sportive skipping of the 
lambs, they danced; and in imitation of the bees they gathered 
flowers.^ 

Here balance and cumulative repetition are carried 
beyond anything in La Calprenede. In style as in other 
respects Tatius influenced La Calprenede the most strongly 
of the Greek romance writers. This description of a grove 
(p. 367) is much in the style of La Calprenede : 

It consisted of a grove, which afforded a delightful object to 
the eyes; around it ran a wall, each of the four sides of which had 
a colonnade supported upon pillars, the central space being planted 
with trees, whose branches were so closely interwoven, that the 
fruits and foUage intermingled in friendly union. Close to some 
of the larger trees grew ivy and the convolvulus; the latter hanging 
from the plane-tree, clustered round it, with its dehcate foliage; 
the former twining round the pine, lovingly embraced its trunk, 
so that the tree became the prop of the ivy and the ivy furnished 
a crown for the tree. 

1 P. 268, Bohn ed. 

2 Autumn is described, p. 285; an arbor, p. 308; a garden, p. 326. 



La Calprenede's Romances 49 

His descriptions of women are not unlike those of La 
Calprenede. The heroine is described as follows (p. 354) : 

Her sparkling eyes had a pleasing expression, her hair was 
golden hued, short and curling, her eyebrows were jet black, her 
cheeks were fair, save that in the middle they had a tinge border- 
ing upon purple, like that with which the Lydian women stain their 
ivory; her mouth was Uke the rose when it begins to bud.' 

And as with La Calprenede's heroines she is most beauti- 
ful when in tears p. 464) : 

Upon hearing his voice, Leucippe burst into tears, and appeared 
even more charming than before, for tears give permanency and 
increased expression to the eyes, either rendering them more 
disagreeable, or improving them if pleasing; for in that case the 
dark iris, fading into lighter hue, resembles, when moistened with 
tears, the head of a gently bubbling fount; the white and black 
growing in brilliancy from the moisture which floats over the sur- 
face, assume the mingled shades of the violet and narcissus, 
and the eye appears as smiling through the tears which are con- 
fined within its lids.^ 

The influence of Mile Scudery has been noted in the course 
of the analysis of the style of Cleopatra. Further indications 
of her influence are to be found in the introduction of verses 
and of discourses on such topics as Prudence, Modesty, 
Reservedness, Severity, Favors, the Art of Poetry, and the 
like. This loitering in conversation for its own sake, the 
emphasizing of social graces, and the embroidering of the 
story by dainty devices are essentially of the Scudery school. 
La Calprenede has introduced these features partly in recog- 
nition of their vogue — he knew they would delight the reader 
trained in threading the mazes of the Land of Tender — and 
partly because they lent themselves readily to a story fought 
out in the drawing-rooms rather than on the field of battle. 

» Cf . also the description of the picture of Eiiropa with which the romance 
opens. 

2 Cf. Cleopatra, Part I, pp.35, 130; Part II, pp. 181. 354, 356, 495, 530. etc. 



50 Herbert Wynford Hill 

There are combats and battle enough to be sure in the Cleo- 
patra, but these are merely the frills of the story; the outcome 
is determined by the king who pardons the hero and assigns 
the rewards. 

THE POPULARITY OP THE HEROIC ROMANCE 

In a curious volume entitled Remarks upon Remarques: Or, 
A Vindication of the Conversations of the Town, published in 
London, 1673, the author comments on the "mixture of 
Tongues with the French" in England: 

And it's true, that in this last Age, wherein our Nation has 
outdone all others in the superstructures of true Science, several 
terms of Art have mixed with our ordinary discourses, which by 
reason of their easiness to intelligence, can hardly be avoided. 

And it's remarkable, that what words soever our Nation has 
adopted, they are most significant of the things they express, and 
so occasion a succinct and comprehensive stile in our Conversa- 
tion and Writing. 

After his invectives against French, he kindly says : 

That Language is highly necessary to all that frequent Courts, 
and that have to do in the important affairs of the World. This 
startled me, when he says, French Tongue is necessary to Courtiers, 
and those concerned in important affairs, and yet not to you; 
whom he designed and advised to be a Hero. 

Nor was the knowledge of French confined to courtiers 
and heroes. Nearly everyone who professed an education 
included French among his accomplishments. Many text- 
books of French were published, and numerous teachers 
assisted in disseminating knowledge of this popular tongue.^ 
Thus it happened that French literature was almost as well 
known among the upper classes as the native literature 
itself. However, although the knowledge of French was 
considered the necessary part of the education of a young 

1 Cf . Charlanne, Influence franQaise en Angleterre au XVII^ siecle, Part 
I, chap. iii. 



La Calprenede's Romances 51 

girl in England, not everyone could read the language with 
any great ease. Thus it fell about that England was flooded 
with translations of French plays and romances.^ Howard 
in The Womans Conquest writes (1671): 

some Poets have arrived to a Convenient reputation yet play'd 
the Thieves, 

From Poems Histories and Romances, 

and (in Act I, scene i, p. 12) we learn 

I have drest up mine out of Story and the 

Grand Romances of our Times from whence I have 

Drawn some noble examples of Love and Constancy. 

And by 1695 Motteux was able to write with truthfulness 
(Preface to Love's a Jest) : 

I would borrow from my own countrymen, but Moliere and 
most of em have been so gleaned that there's scarse anything 
left. 

La Calprenede's romances were translated into English 
soon after their appearance in French. The first volumes 
of Cleopatra appeared in English before the last volumes 
were completed by the author, and both romances were 
widely circulated. 

Cassandre was begun in 1642 and finished in 1650.^ 
According to Jusserand^ it was first published in English 
in 1652;* according to Graesse again in 1661; in 1676 
appeared the translation by Cotterell in folio; in 1703 a 
translation by several hands; and in 1725 a reprint of 

1 In the preface to Lisander and Calista. 1627, we are told: "This French 
Knight and his Lady being importuned, contrary to their design, and the 
fashion of this time (which is almost all French) to appeare to pubUcke view 
in this their English habit," etc. 

2 1642-50 are the dates generally assigned; and CottereU in the preface 
to the Reader speaks of it as a ten years' story, but Grierson gives 1645. 

' P. 364, The Novel in the Time of Shakespeare. 

* Cf. also Charlanne, Part II, chap, vi, who describes this early transla- 
tion of the first three parts as a very ordinary one. 



52 Herbert Wtnford Hill 

Cotterell's 1676 edition. Cotterell in a prefatory address 
to the Reader in the 1676 edition wrote that, "Since this 
Translation of Cassandra was put into the Press, the begin- 
ning of another by an accurate pen hath been published 
to the World," but I can find no trace of another translation 
later than that of 1661 to which this might refer. The 
reference is in all probabilities to the translation of 1652. 

CUopdtre was begun in 1647 and finished in 1658. The 
first part was translated by Robert Loveday in 1652 under the 
title of Hymens Praeludia; or Loves Master-piece; being the 
first part of that so much admir'd Romance entituled Cleo- 
patra. The second part was translated by Loveday, 1653; 
the third by Loveday, 1655; the seventh by J(ohn) C(oles), 
1658; the eighth by J(ames) W(ebb), 1658; and the ninth 
to twelfth, inclusive, by J. Davies.^ The complete transla- 
tion appeared in folio in 1665, a compilation of the transla- 
tion just named, to which was added the translation of the 
fourth to sixth parts inclusive by Loveday. In 1674 appeared 
in folio, two volumes bound in one but paged separately, 
a translation by Robert Loveday.^ 

The British Museum Catalogue lists the following editions: 
Cassandre: 1642, 1660, 1666; translations into English: 
1676 (by C. Cotterell); 1703 (by several hands); 1725 (by 
Cotterell). 

CUopdtre: 1647; translations: Cleopatra: 1652, the 
first part (by R. Loveday); 1654 (the second part); 1655 
(the third part); 1658 (the seventh part Englished by J 
C[oles]); 1658 (the eighth part by J W[ebb]); 1665 (folio); 
1674 (folio).' 

1 Cf. Charlanne, pp. 391-92. 

2 This is the translation used in this discussion ; all page references are to 
this edition unless otherwise stated. 

3 Translations of other romances that might be mentioned are Gom- 
bauld's Endymion (1639); Camus' Iphigenes (1652); Desmartz's Ariana 



La Calprenede's Romances 53 

The women especially were infatuated with the heroic 
romances. Pepys' wife was a great reader of the romances 
and bores him constantly by relating parts of them, ''though 
nothing to the purpose nor in any good manner." On 
November 16, 1668, however, he brought home from Martin, 
his bookseller's, a copy of Cassandra, and with this he was 
better pleased; he tells us on May 7, 1669, 

Thence to my wife, and she read to me the epistle of Cassandra, 
which is very good indeed; and the better to her, because recom- 
mended by Sheres. * 

Dorothy Osborne- similarly tried to encourage Sir 
William Temple to read La Calprenede : 

Have you read Cleopatra ? I have six tomes of it here that I 
can lend you if you have not. There are some stories in it that 
you will like I beUeve; 

and in her next letter : 

Since you are at leisure to consider the moon, you may be 
enough to read Cleopatra. Therefore I have sent you three tomes. 
There is a story of Artemise that I will recommend to you; his 
disposition I like extremely. It has a great deal of gratitude in 
it, and if you meet with Britomart, pray send me word how you 
like him; 

and soon in another letter : 

1 have sent you the rest of Cleopatra. You will meet with a 
story in these parts of Cleopatra that pleased me more than any I 
ever read in my life. 'Tis of one DeUe; pray give me your opinion 
of her and her prince. 

Lady Lurewell in Farquhar's The Constant Cowph (1700, 
Act III, last scene) says: 

(1636, 1641); Gomberville's Polexander (1647); Scudgry's Ibrahim (1652), 
Grand Cs/rus (1653-55), Cieha (1656-61, 1678), Almahide {1Q77); Vaumoriere's 
The Grand Scipio (1660). 

» Cf. also II, 184; II, 109; II, 91, etc. (Braybrooke ed.). 

2 In a letter written probably in 1653 or 1654. Cf . The Life of Sir William 
Temple by Thomas P. Coiirtenay, Vol. II, p. 288. 



54 Herbert Wynford Hill 

After supper I went to my chamber and read Cassandra, then 
went to bed and dreamt of it all night, rose in the morning and 
made verses.' 

Many were the verses and letters inspired by the heroic 
romances, and conversation was greatly refined. Dryden 
in the epilogue to the Conquest of Granada remarks that, 

Wit's now ariv'd to a more high degree; 
Our native Language more refin'd and free. 
Our Ladies and our men now speak more wit 
In conversation, than those poets writ.^ 

Pordage, in the Epistle Dedicatory to The Siege of Baby- 
lon, wrote: 

Wit is refined; and Ingenuity made bright, not only by the 
Industry of Poets, and endeavours of the Learned, but by the 
example, of the Court, and encouragement of Princes, who diffuse 
it Uke Light to all that know them; among whom your Royal 
Highness, as a Star of the first Magnitude, shines, with the splendor 
of your Mind, and enlightens the Souls of others.^ 

The influence of the court, where the refinements of the 
Hotel de Rambouillet^ were practiced, was supported by 
books on manners and conversation^ some of which were 

1 Leonora (Spectator, April 12, 1711) includes in her library "Cassandra, 
Cleopatra, Astraea, The Grand Cyrus: with a pin stuck in one of the middle 
leaves." 

2 Cf. also his Defense of the Epilogue appended to the Conquest of Gra- 
nada, p. 172. 

' Cf. also Genest, I, 427, where the Earl of Orrery is quoted as writing 
to a friend, "I have now finished a play in a French manner because I heard 
the King declare himself more in favour of their way of writing than ours." 

Camus in the Dedicatory Preface to Iphigenes (translated into EngUsh 
by Major Wright in 1652) addresses the Rt. Honorable James Earle of North- 
ampton: " Neither is wanting Valour accompanied with Honour which have 
been the marks and are now the known favorites of your virtuous inclinations." 

^ Cf. Cousin's La societe frauQaise au XVII^ siecle, d'aprcs le Grand Cyrus 
de Mile de Scudcry. 

* Edward PhilUps, The Beaus Academy; or the modern and genteel way of 
wooing and complimenting, after the most courtly m.anner in which is drawn to 
life the deportment of the most accomplished lovers, etc. 



La Calprenede's Romances 55 

drawn directly from the heroic romances.^ Doubtless it 
might have been said of many a lady as in Kingsmyll's 
Gallantry-a-la-M ode (p. 4:1): 

Did you affect the air of France 
Strait her discourse was all Romance. 

Numerous are the letters in heroic style. Nearly all 
the dedicatory letters prefaced to heroic plays were in the 
elevated style. Lee's letter to the Duchess of Portsmouth 
prefaced to Sophonisba is sufl&ciently tjrpical : 

But above all, I must pay my adorations to your Grace, who 
as you are the most Beautiful, as well in the bright appearances 
of Body, as in the immortal splendours of an elevated Soul, did 
shed mightier influence and darted on me a largess of glory answer- 
able to your stock of Beams, etc. 

Love correspondences were carried on under assumed 
names in heroic style. Here is a specimen chosen from a 
volume of Miscellaneous Letters and Essays edited by Charles 
Gildon in 1694 (p. 122) : 

To Acme, before I had seen her. 

I ought not in Prudence (Madam) to let you know the unreason- 
able extent of your charms, for fear it destroy the Happiness I am 
at in your Pitty; Cruelty and Pride being generally the effect of 
so Unlimited a Power. Yet, since you cannot pity, without know- 
ing the Sufferer, I must inform you. Divine Maid, that I have 
increas'd the number of your Slaves, without so much as the pleasure 
of seeing you for all the Sighs you have cost me. 

Love indeed is an Off'ring that ought to be laid on the soft 
Altars of Beauty; But, Madam, sure never was by any, but my 
self, on that of an Unknown Deity. We keep the Bleeding Victims 
of our Hearts, as long as we can, and only yield 'em up to the 
Irresistible Force of the present Fair One. 

This, Madam, is the common condition of Lovers; but as my 
passion has an extraordinary Object in you, so have your Beauties 

1 Cf. Crane, Les hiros de roman, Introd., p. 113. 



56 Herbert Wynford Hill 

an uncommom Influence on me: for Charm' d by I know not what 
Divine Witchery, I Sacrifice my poor Heart to your very Name, 
without putting you to the expence of one killing Look, to oblige me 
to't; Report has often engag'd the Curiosity, but never till now won 
the Affections. 

The first mention of you inspir'd me with all the tender thoughts 
of Love; and being obliged to personate the Lover in Print, I had 
Recourse to the Divine Idea, I had formed of you, Madam, to 
qualifie me for it; you were the only Heavenly Muse that I invok'd, 
which abundantly furnished me with all the Transporting Raptures 
of Love. But alas! Madame, while I too much gave way to 
Imagination, it carry'd me to a View of those Joys, none but you 
can impart, at lest too charming fair one, so much justice is due to 
the most uncommon of Lovers, as to permit him the Blessing of 
your Conversion. 

Ah! Madam, excel the rest of your Sex in Perfections of Mind, 
as much as you do in those of Body, and let not Pride and Cruelty 
level you with 'em; like a lawful Prince maintain the Glory of 
your Empire, by the happiness of your vassals, and be not like a 
Tyrant, proud of their Destruction, at least permit the address 
of the greatest of 

Slaves, 

Septimus 

[To be continued] 



LA CALPRENEDE'S ROMANCES AND THE 
RESTORATION DRAMA 

By Herbert Wtnford Hill 

PART 11:1 THE INFLUENCE OF CASSANDRA AND CLEO- 
PATRA ON THE RESTORATION DRAMA 

The English heroic play is generally conceded to begin 
with Davenant.^ The Siege of Rhodes possesses many 
elements of the heroic play,^ and Love and Honour conforms 
even more closely to the type. Without question, also, 
many of the elements of the heroic play appeared in the 
English drama before Davenant.* Other writers of heroic 
romances than La Calprenede aided in the development of 
the heroic play; some preceded him. Our study, however, 
is concerned with La Calprenede and begins with his in- 
fluence on Dryden as this English playwright was the first 
to afford specific evidence of indebtedness to the author 
of Cassandra and Cleopatra. 

The mutual resemblance of various situations and inci- 
dents in La Calprenede's romances was pointed out in 
Part I of this study. As one proceeds through the pages of 

1 Part I was published in the University of Nevada Studies, Vol. II, No. 3. 

2 Dryden in his Essay on Heroic Plays prefixed to the Conquest of Granada 
(Saintsbury ed. ol Works of Dryden 1883, Vol. IV, p. 19) writes: "For heroic 
plays, ui which only I have used it without the mixture of prose, the first 
light we had of them, on the EngUsh theatre, was from the late Sir William 
Davenant." 

Cf. also The English Heroic Play by Lewis Nathaniel Chase; Beljame's 
Le public et les hommes de lettres en Angleterre au XVIII^ siicle, pp. 40+; 
and Charlanne's Influence fran^aise en Angleterre au XVII^ siicle, chap. vli. 

3 Cf. " The Rise of the Heroic Play," by Professor Child, Modern Language 
Notes, Vol. XIX, p. 166. 

4 Cf. Professor Child's article just cited; and also Professor Tupper's 
discussion of the relation of the heroic play to the romances of Beaumont and 
Fletcher, Publications of the Modern Language Association, September, 1905, 
pp. 584 +. 

57 



58 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Cassandra and Cleopatra he finds it constantly easier to fore- 
cast the relations that will be established among the characters 
in the successive histories, and the corresponding reactions. 
Passing directly from the romances to some of Dryden's plays, 
such as The Indian Queen, The Indian Emperor, and The 
Conquest of Granada, one experiences little sense of change : 
the types of characters are the same, the characters are 
related in the same way, under similar circumstances they 
do the same things. In order to estimate the extent of this 
similarity it has been thought best to present first a com- 
posite romance built up of the stock situations and incidents 
of Cassandra and Cleopatra, and to endeavor to see how 
closely the lines of the plays follow the pattern of the 
romances. Such a romance would read as follows: 

I. The hero, in disguise or through misfortune reduced 
from his rightful rank and heritage, falls violently 
in love with the daughter or protegee of the obdurate 
ruler. (This is the case in the main and duplicating 
plots of Cassandra and Cleopatra and in various minor 
plots. Cf. Cassandra, 7, 120, 188, 347, 367, etc.; 
Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 56, 84, 218, 277, 319; Part II, 
pp. 127, 186, 431, etc.)^ 

II. The hero performs wonders: 

1. In tournaments (cf. Cassandra, 12, 280, etc.); 

2. In gladiatorial combats (cf. Cassandra, 142+ ; 
Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 424+); 

3. In single and mixed combats, not in battles. 
(These are innumerable); 

4. In battle (cf. Cassandra, 6, 29, 71, 77, 82, 189, 
285, 328, 347+, 426, 493, 529, 557, etc.; Cleopatra, 
Part I, pp. 120-29, 264; Part II, pp. 129+, etc.); 

> The page references are to Cotterell's translation of Cassandra, ed. of 
1676, and Loveday's translation of Cleopatra, ed. of 1674. 



La Calprenede's Romances 59 

5. In saving the life of the ruler (cf. Cassandra, 43, 
100, 379, etc.; Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 552, etc.; 
Parti, p. 183); 

6. In preserving the kingdom from ruin (cf. Cas- 
sandra, 29+, 347+, 379+, etc.; Cleopatra, Part I, 
pp. 215+, 183+, 150+ ; Part II, pp. 146+, etc.). 

III. The hero scorns all rewards save the hand of the 
heroine. (This is invariably the case.) 

IV. The heroine's hand is denied him because of: 

1. His supposed low station (cf. Cassandra, 17, 77+, 
124; Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 247, 381, etc.); 

2. Hostility to his family (cf. Cassandra, 397, etc.; 
Cleopatra, Part I, p. 298; Part II, p. 197, etc.); 

3. The promise of the heroine to another (cf. Cas- 
sandra, 137, 347+, etc.; Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 129, 
225; Part II, pp. 493, 513, etc.). 

V. The hero is either: 

1. Banished (cf. Cassandra, 111, 171, etc.; Cleopatra, 
Part I, pp. 138, 224, 384; Part II, p. 139, etc.); or 

2. Imprisoned (cf. Cassandra, 51, 78, 141, 397, etc.; 
Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 256, 299; Part II, pp. 485, 
514, 545, etc.). 

VI. The hero is brought back or freed: 

1. Through his own efforts (cf. Cassandra, 144, 406, 
etc.; Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 309+, 265, etc.); or 

2. By the heroine (cf. Cassandra, 144; Cleopatra, 
Part I, p. 311; Part II, pp. 35, 544, etc.); or 

3. By his captors who need his services (cf. Cassan- 
dra, 79+, 556; Cleopatra, Part I, p. 264, etc.). 

VII. The hero further illustrates his prowess by: 

1. Taking the weaker side in combats (this is a very 
frequent way of introducing heroes) ; 



60 Herbert Wynford Hill 

2. Going to the opposite side, carrying victory with 
him {Cassandra, 29; Cleopatra, pp. 150, 227 + ; 
Part II, pp. 145+, etc.); 

3. Killing or humiliating his rivals (Cassandra, 123, 
138+, 203, 418, 551, etc.; Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 
140, 230; Part II, pp. 41, 146, 201, etc.); 

4. Saving the life of the heroine (Cassandra, 167, 178, 
203, 494; Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 91, 463+, and 
note below under "X")- 

VIII. The hero further illustrates his chivalry by courtesy to 
his enemies (Cassandra, 108, 379, 433, etc. ; Cleopatra, 
Part II, pp. 367, 446+, 550+, etc.). 

IX. The heroine is carried off by: 

1. The hero (Cassandra, 426; Cleopatra, Part I, p. 217, 
etc.); 

2. Unscrupulous rivals (Cassandra, 435, 439, etc.; 
Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 396+, 408+, 494, 529; Part 
II, pp. 95, 112, 463, 488, etc.); 

3. Pirates (Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 75, 206; Part II, 
pp. 53, 258); or 

4. She is shipwrecked (Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 211, 473, 
523; Part II, pp. 114, 344, 523). 

X. She is rescued: 

1. By the hero (Cassandra, 178, 438,493; Cleopatra, 
Part I, pp. 204, 414, 533; Part II, pp. 463+, etc.); 

2. By her own efforts (Cassandra, 445; Cleopatra, 
Part I, p. 211, etc.). 

XI. The wicked woman: 

1. Attempts to kill the heroine (Cassandra, 243+, 
553+); 

2. Stirs up the heroine's jealousy by slandering the 
hero or making love to him (Cassandra, 25+, 84+). 



La Calprenede's Romances 61 

XII. The unscrupulous rival: 

1. Attempts to kill the hero {Cassandra, 225, 551, 
557+, etc.; Cleopatra, Part I, p. 140; Part II, 
pp. 360+, 462+); 

2. Slanders him or the heroine (Cassandra, 195, 
229+; Cleopatra, Part I, p. 102; Part II, pp. 
358+, etc.). 

XIII. The difficulties are solved wholly or in part by: 

1. The hero, who conquers his enemies or reveals 
his identity (Cassandra, 557, 562; Cleopatra, Part 
II, pp. 526+, etc.); 

2. The ruler, who gives in or is killed (Cassandra, 433 ; 
Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 567+, 570, etc.); 

3. The generous rival, who sacrifices himself for the 
hero; 

4. The wicked woman, who assists the hero (Cas- 
sandra, 557). 

The Indian Queen^ 

In January, 1664, The Indian Queen appeared at the 
Theatre Royal "with great splendour and marked success. "^ 
The play was the joint production of Dryden and his brother- 
in-law. Sir Robert Howard. Just how much of the play 
Dryden wrote is difficult to estimate, but probably a con- 
siderable portion.' 

The play was first published under the cover of Four New 
Plays, together with The Surprisal, The Committee, The 

» The title-page of this first edition reads: " The Indian Queen, a Tragedy, 
London, Printed for H. Herringman, at the Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk 
of the New Exchange. 1665." 

» Evelyn (February 5, 1664) compUments it as the best play he has seen 
in a mercenary theater. Pepys (February 1, 1664) thought it was spoiled by 
the rhyme. For an account of some of the splendors of scenery read the 
epilogue. 

' Cf. preface to The Indian Emperor, where Dryden referring to The 
Indian Queen says, "part of which poem was writ by me." 



62 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Vestal Virgin. The incidents and situations are those of 
La Calprenede's romances, and their arrangement is much 
the same. They are as follows: 

1. The hero through misfortune reduced from his right- 
ful rank falls violently in love with the daughter of the 
obdurate ruler. 

2. The hero performs wonders: (a) in battle; (6) in 
preserving the kingdom from ruin, 

3. The hero scorns all rewards save the hand of the 
heroine. 

4. The heroine's hand is denied him because of his sup- 
posed low station. 

5. The hero is threatened with imprisonment. 

6. But he escapes. 

7. The hero further illustrates his prowess by: (a) going 
to the other side carrying victory with him; (6) saving the 
life of the heroine; (c) saving the life of the obdurate ruler. 

8. The ruler^ claims the captive king and heroine, and, 
the hero objecting to this, 

9. Puts him into chains. 

10. The wicked woman: (a) attempts to kill the hero: 
but (6) falls in love with him and cannot carry out her 
purpose. 

11. The wicked woman tries to kill the heroine. 

12. The unscrupulous rival tries to kill the hero. 

13. In a single scene the wicked woman and the unscrupu- 
lous rival mutually protect the hero and the heroine from 
each other. 

14. The hero and the heroine are freed by the generous 
rival. 

15. The hero and the generous rival fight a duel. 

• Not the obdurate ruler of " 1," but the usurping Queen of Mexico. As 
a stock character she corresponds to the wicked woman of the romances. 



La Calprenede's Romances 63 

16. The hero and the heroine are recaptured and con- 
demned to die before the altar. 

17. The generous rival sacrifices himself to save the 
hero and the heroine. 

18. The wicked woman cuts the bonds of the hero, and 
arms him with a dagger. 

19. The hero kills the unscrupulous rival. 

20. A revolution puts the hero in power. 

21. The wicked woman stabs herself. 

These situations and incidents are arranged in the order 
of presentation in the play given; given the notation of the 
composite romance they will fall into the following pattern: 
I; II 4, 6; III; IV 1; V 2; VI 1; VII 2, 4; II 5; (8 not 
conventional); V 2; (10 not conventional); XI 1; XII 1; 
(13 not conventional); XIII 3; (15 conventional although 
not listed); (16 conventional in part but not listed) ; XIII 
3; XIII 4; VII 3; (20 conventional but not listed); (21 
conventional but not listed). 

Sixteen of them fall into the Romance pattern. Five of 
these sixteen occur in the main plots and in the two support- 
ing plots of both Cassandra and Cleopatra, and the others 
repeatedly in the main or supporting plots. The remaining 
five of the twenty-one parallel more or less closely single 
incidents and situations found in one or the other of the two 
romances.^ One of these five follows the romance in such 
detail as to indicate that it was drawn directly from La Cal- 

i These five are listed respectively in our outline 8, 10, 13, 16, 18. The 
eighth is paralleled in Cleopatra where Tigranes refuses Artaban the right to 
dispose of EUsa and her mother. The tenth is paralleled in Cassandra by 
Roxana, who experiences similar diflBculty with the hero; and cf. also Cleopatra, 
Part II, p. 295. The sixteenth is common enough in La Calprenede except 
for the added detail of the place of the execution — before the altar. This 
feature is introduced as local color. [In HeUodorus Aethiopica (pp. 256 +) 
Theagenes and Cariclea are condemned to die as sacrifices before the altar.] 
The eighteenth is closely paralleled in Cassandra (p. 557), where Roxana sets 
the hero free and arms him. 



64 Herbert Wynford Hill 

prenede; this is the one Hsted as 13, where the wicked woman 
and the unscrupulous rival mutually protect the hero and 
heroine from death at the hands of the other. 

For the wicked woman to attempt the life of the heroine, 
or for the unscrupulous rival to attempt the life of the hero is 
nothing unusual; in fact, these are the commonest of stock 
incidents. Nor is the motive back of the attempt un- 
usual; either the wicked woman or the unscrupulous woman 
frequently attempts to force the love of the hero or heroine 
respectively by threatening the mistress or lover. But so 
far as I know La Calprenede in Cassandra was the first to 
weave the two together. In the management of the scene 
the play follows the romance closely. In both, the scene 
occurs in prison; the hero and heroine are prisoners; the 
unscrupulous rival draws his sword to kill the hero, and is 
prevented from killing the hero by the wicked woman's 
similarly threatening the heroine; the hero and heroine 
scoff at death for themselves, but fear it for the other; the 
wicked woman and the unscrupulous rival now change 
places, the one protecting the hero, the other the heroine; 
the scene closes with no one being hurt. Such sequences of 
detail could hardly be accidental. 

The characters also are the stock characters of Cleopatra 
and Cassandra. In Montezuma we have the type of hero 
identical with Oroondates and Artaban — invincible, match- 
less, of dauntless spirit and ungovernable pride. His 
fortunes are those of Artaban rather than of Oroondates : he 
has been raised obscurely, ignorant of his high birth; as a 
free lance he goes from one side to the other carrying victory. 
The Inca is the counterpart of La Calprenede's obdurate 
ruler. Acaces is the stock generous rival carried to extremes; 
Traxalla is the unscrupulous rival, less fully developed. 
Zempoalla is the type of the unscrupulous woman rival for 



La Calprenede's Romances 65 

the hand of the hero. And the heroine is the starry-eyed 
beauty, languishing, but courageous when need be, and 
faithful at all costs. 

The Indian Emperor^ 

The Indian Emperor, which Dryden wrote as a sequel to 
The Indian Queen, was received even more favorably and 
ran through more editions. In the preface dedicating the 
play to Princess Anne, Dryden begins by saying, "The 
favour which Heroick Plays have lately found upon our 
Theatres, has been wholly deriv'd to them from the counte- 
nance and approbation they have received at Court" — a 
statement in the conventional, self-deprecatory vein, but 
possessing a certain element of truth, Dryden himself, 
however, was as much responsible as any other single writer 
for establishing the vogue of the heroic play. 

In the prologue we are informed that 

The Scenes are old, the Habits are the same. 
We wore last year before the Spaniards came. 

This is ridiculously apposite; the two plays are wonder- 
fully alike, although not so much in the habits and scenes 
as in the situations and incidents. The types of characters 
are the same although of surprising descent. It is with no 
small astonishment that we identify our Artaban — hero of 
The Indian Queen — with the Montezuma of history. As 
soon as the machinery gets under way we discover the real 

I The first edition was published 1667. The editions available to me 
were, 1668 (2d ed.). 1670 (3d ed.), 1681, 1686, 1692, 1694, 1696, 1703, 1709, 
1710, 1732. The British Museum Catalogue enumerates the editions, 1667. 
1668, 1670, 1686, 1703. 

The title-page of the second edition (1668) reads: "The Indian Emperour, 
or. The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. Being the Sequel of The Indian 
Queen. By John Dryden Esq; The Second Edition. 

Dum relego scripsisse pudet, quia plurima cerno 
Me quoque, qui feci, judice digna lini. — Ovid. 

London, Printed for H. Herringman, at the Sign of the Blew Anchor In the 
Lower walk of the New Exchange. 1668." 



66 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Artaban in the character of Cortez, and our Statira-Cleopa- 
tra-Orazia, heroine under the dusky skin of an Indian 
princess. 

The situations and incidents are as follows: 

The main plot. — 

1. The ruler is in love with the wicked woman. 

2. The hero falls violently in love with the daughter of 
the ruler. 

3. The heroine prevails upon the hero to exercise clem- 
ency toward the enemy. 

4. The unscrupulous rival attempts treacherously to kill 
the hero. 

5. The hero saves the life of the unscrupulous rival. 

6. The hero humiliates the unscrupulous rival in a duel, 

7. But. courteously grants him his life when he has him 
at his mercy. 

8. The hero kills the unscrupulous rival. 

9. The hero is captured and imprisoned. 

10. The wicked woman attempts to kill the hero but falls 
in love with him and cannot carry out her purpose. 

11. The wicked woman stirs up the jealousy of the heroine 
by making love to the hero. 

12. The wicked woman attempts to kill the heroine. 

13. The heroine is saved by the hero. 

14. The hero is rescued by his own men, who have been 
treacherously admitted to the prison. 

15. The heroine is put into a tower by the hero for safe 
keeping. 

16. The ruler is captured by the hero's forces. 

17. The ruler is tortured. 

18. The hero saves the ruler's life. 

19. The ruler, facing ruin and realizing the perfidy of his 
mistress, the wicked woman, stabs himself. 



La Calprenede's Romances 67 

20. The wicked woman in a tower-top within sight of the 
hero again attempts the life of the heroine. 

21. The heroine is saved by fate, the wound proving not 
fatal. 

22. The wicked woman stabs herself. 
The subplot. — 

1. The heroine is loved by two suitors, the hero and the 
unscrupulous rival. 

2. The heroine promises her hand to the one who dis- 
plays most courage in battle. 

3. The hero is captured in battle. 

4. He is freed by the hero of the main plot. 

5. The heroine tempts her suitors to sacrifice honor for 
love, (a) The hero refuses; (6) The unscrupulous rival 
makes the sacrifice. 

6. The unscrupulous rival joins with one of the enemy in 
a vow to help each other win the objects of their passion. 

7. The unscrupulous rival captures the heroine and the 
hero. 

8. The unscrupulous rival tries to force the hand of the 
heroine by threatening the life of the hero.^ 

9. The unscrupulous rival and his confederate discover 
the object of their passion to be one and the same woman, 
the heroine.^ 

10. The confederate kills the unscrupulous rival. 

11. The hero kills the confederate. 

In the notation of the composite romance the main plot 
will read: (1 not conventional); I; (3 conventional but not 
listed); XII 1; VIII; VII 3; VIII; VII 3; V 2; (10 not 
conventional); XI 2; XI 1; VII 4; (14 not conventional); 
IX 1 (with modifications); (16 conventional but not hsted); 

1 Cf . Cassandra, 552+; Cleopatra, Part II, p. 510, etc. 

2 Boyle in Tryphon, acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1668 (pr. 1669), uses 
the same situation with the characters Demetrius, Tryphon, Stratonice. 



68 Herbert Wynford Hill 

(17 not conventional); II 5; (19 not conventional); XI 1 
(with modification); (21 and 22 not conventional). 

In the main plot, then, fifteen of the situations and inci- 
dents are conventional with La Calprenede. Of the remain- 
ing seven, two are found in Cassandra or Cleopatra.^ Of the 
remaining five all but one (Number 22) have parallels more 
or less close in Cassandra or Cleopatra. Number 14 is the 
commonest of conventional incidents except for the means 
used to secure admission to the prison. There is a torture 
scene in Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 438+. Number 19 is paralleled 
in Cleopatra Part II, p. 278, except for the detail of the per- 
fidious mistress.2 For the heroine to recover from a wound 
is not unusual. 

Twelve of these are found in The Indian Queen. Number 
22 is the only one common to the two plays not found in the 
romances. 

In the subplot the initial situation and most of the inci- 
dents are conventional. The complication effected through 
making two unscrupulous rivals join forces to win the object 
of their passion not knowing that she is one and the same, 
has no original in Cassandra or Cleopatra.^ The struggle 
between love and honor is of course a common heroic- 
romance theme ;^ Dryden introduced it into the subplot 
to ennoble the conduct of the hero of the main plot under 
similar temptation. 

1 These are numbers 1 and 10. Number 10 has been discussed above 
imder The Indian Queen, 10. Number 1 has a parallel in the love of Alexander 
for Roxana in Cassandra. 

2 The incident, however, bears a much closer resemblance to the death 
of TraxaUa in The Indian Queen (Act V, scene 1). 

3 Boyle in Tryphon acted in the following year (1668, printed 1669) used 
the same compUcation for the characters Demetrius, Tryphon, Stratonice. 
The characters in Boyle's play are for the most part the stock heroic-romance 
characters, and many of his incidents and situations are conventional. 

* In Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 437 +, there is a scene that approaches the 
scene in The Indian Emperor where Alibech tempts Guyomar. 



La Calprenede's Romances 69 

The characters of The Indian Emperor are the stock 
heroic-romance characters already familiar to us through 
the pages of The Indian Queen. Montezuma, the hero of 
The Indian Queen, is translated into the obdurate ruler of 
The Indian Emperor. Cortez is the conventional heroic- 
romance hero; Cydaria is in all respects the conventional 
heroic-romance heroine; Almeria is the worthy successor 
to Zempoalla, her unscrupulous mother. In the subplot, 
Guyomar the hero, Odmar the unscrupulous rival, and Ali- 
bech the heroine, are sufficiently typical to need no introduc- 
tion. These types soon appear again in Dryden's next 
play, The Conquest of Granada, and with renewed youth and 
increased enthusiasm perform similar exploits. 

The Conquest of Granada 

In 1670 there appeared at the Theatre Royal Dryden's 
The Conquest of Granada. In 1672 it was published/ and so 
great was the demand that the next year another edition 
appeared, and by 1704 it had run through its sixth edition.^ 
The situations and incidents of the main plot are as follows: 

1. The hero through misfortune reduced from his right- 
ful rank falls violently in love with the protegee of the 
obdurate ruler.^ 

1 The title-page of the first edition reads: "The Conquest of Granada 
By The Spaniards: In Two Parts. Acted at the Theatre-Royall. Written 
by John Dryden Servant to His Majesty. 

Major rerum mihi nascitur Ordo; 

Majus Opus moveo. — Virg. Aeneid 7. 
In the Savoy, Printed by T. N. for Henry Herringman, and are to be sold at 
the Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange. 1672." 

2 The editions in their order were: 1672, 1673, 1678, 1687, 1695, 1704; 
unless otherwise specified, the page references are to the first edition. 

' The circumstances attending the falling in love are exactly those of 
Cassandra where Oroondates falls in love with Statira, whom he has captured, 
and those of Cleopatra where Artaban falls in love with Ehsa, whom he has 
captured (cf. Cassandra, 7 +, and Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 217 +). The first 
view the audience has of the hero is where he involuntarily rushes to the 
aid of the weaker party in combat; this is La Calprenede's favorite way of 
introducing his heroes; in fact, all of his principal heroes are so introduced 
and many minor heroes. 



70 Herbert Wynford Hill 

2. The hero performs wonders: (a) in amusement con- 
tests;^ (6) in single or mixed combats; (c) in battle; (d) in 
preserving the kingdom from ruin; (e) in rescuing the heroine 
from his unscrupulous rival.^ 

3. The hero scorns all rewards save the hand of the 
heroine. 

4. The heroine's hand is denied him because of the 
promise of her hand to another.* 

5. The hero is imprisoned.* 

> The incident of the bull fight was probably suggested, as Langbaine 
claims, by Guzman's Juego de Toros y Cannas, the story of Ozmin and Doraxia, 
Part I, pp. 82 +. Amusement contests such as tournaments and gladiatorial 
combats are to be found in La Calprenede's romances. A cm-ious criticism 
of this Incident is found in a pamphlet pubUshed in 1673, The Censure of the 
Rota, written by Richard Leigh: "Amongst several! other late Exercises of the 
Athenian Vertuosi in the Coffee- Academy instituted by Apollo for the advance- 
ment of Gazette Philosophy Mercury's, Diurnalls, etc; this day was wholly 
taken up in the Examination of the Conquest of Granada; a Gentleman on 
the reading of the First Part, and therein the Description of the Bull-baiting, 
said, that Almanzor's playing at the BuU was according to the Standard 
of the Greek Heroes, who, as Mr. Dryden had learnedly observed [Essay of 
Dramatique poetry, p. 25] were great Beef-Eaters. And why might not 
Almanzor as well as Ajax, or Don Quixot worry Mutton, or take a BuU by 
the Throat, since the Author had elsewhere explain'd himselfe by telling us 
the Heroes were more noble Beasts of Prey, in his Epistle to his Conquest of 
Granada, distinguishing them into wild and tame, and In his play we have 
Almanzor shaking his chaine, and frightening his keeper p. 28. broke loose, 
p. 64. and tearing those that would reclaim his rage, p. 135. To this he added 
that his Bulls exceU'd others Heroes, as far as his own Heroes siu-passed his 
Gods: that the Champion Bull was divested of flesh and blood, and made 
immortal by the poet, and bellow'd after death; that the fantastique Bull 
seem'd fiercer than the true, and the dead beUowings in Verse, were louder 
then the living; .... a third went on and told them Fighting Scenes and 
Representations of Battells were as necessary to a Tragedy as Cudgells, and 
broken pates to a Covmtry Wake; that an Heroick Poem never sounded so 
nobly, as when it was heightened with Shouts, and Clashing of Swords, and 
that Drums and Trumpets gain'd an absolute Dominion over the minds of 
the Audience: (the Ladies and Female Spirits)." 

» Cf. Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 213^8, where Artaban vmder similar circum- 
stances recaptures EUsa from Phraates. 

3 She is betrothed to the ruler himself. Under the same circumstances 
Artaban is refused Elisa because the ruler is in love with her (cf. Cleopatra, 
Part I, pp. 248+). 

* This time because of his audacious request. Earlier in the play he 
has been captured by the ruler. Time and again he is on the point of being 
captured. AU of this is in the most approved heroic-romance vein. 



La Calprenede's Romances 71 

6. He is freed through the intercession of the heroine, 

7. But banished. 

8. The hero has previously illustrated his prowess by 
changing sides ;^ now his mere absence is sufficient to bring 
defeat to the ruler. 

9. The hero is brought back •? (a) through the need of his 
services; (6) through the demand of the people;^ (c) through 
the command of the heroine.* 

10. Through the gift of a scarf to the hero, the heroine 
increases the jealousy of the ruler. ^ 

11. The hero further illustrates his prowess: (a) by 
rescuing the ruler from the enemy ;^ (6) by protecting the 
heroine. 

12. The unscrupulous rival attempts to abduct the 
heroine.^ 

1 The first time oa the refusal of the ruler to free a captive, and a second 
time for the same reason. In the second case the captive is the heroine, and 
the hero returns to the side of the legitimate ruler to recapture the heroine 
from the usurping ruler. This course is closely paralleled by Artaban's 
conduct in Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 213-^8. Dryden in his Essay on Heroic Playt 
prefaced to The Conquest of Granada, justified Almanzor by appeal to Homer 
and Tasso. As further justification, early in the play, we note that Almanzor 
has contracted the habit of changing sides before his appearance in Granada. 

2 With Part II the central situation is somewhat changed by the mar- 
riage of the heroine to the ruler. The situation in Part I more closely resem- 
bles the ground pattern of Cleopatra; in Part II, the pattern of Cassandra, 
where the heroine is married to the riiler. 

' Cf . Cleopatra, Part II, p. 312, and Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 498-505; 
where Caesario and Artaban are in similar demand. 

* The implicit obedience of the hero to every command of the heroine 
save where honor is involved is the stock trait of La Calprenede's heroes. 
Dryden had also in mind Achilles. 

5 In his presentation of a jealous husband Dryden was not influenced 
to any considerable extent by La Calprenede. In Cleopatra the jealousy of 
the hero is aroused through the steaUng of a scarf from the heroine. The 
theme of the jealous husband is presented by La Calprenede in the following 
histories: Theander and Alcione (Cassandra, 218-37); Tyridates and Mari- 
amne (Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 1-32, 438-50); and Zenodorus (Cleopatra, Part 
II, p. 248). 

6 Oroondates rescues from drowning the husband of the heroine; of. 
Cassandra, 99 +. 

' Cf. above, this same synopsis, under 2e. 



72 Herbert Wynford Hill 

13. She is rescued by the generous suitor for the hand 
of the wicked woman. 

14. The wicked woman: (a) makes love to the hero; 
(6) charges the heroine with adultery.^ 

15. The heroine is cleared of the charge: (a) by a trial- 
by-combat f (6) by the dying confession of the unscrupulous 
rival. 

16. The difficulties are solved by: (a) the death of the 
unscrupulous rival at the hands of the hero; (6) the death 
of the ruler killed in battle; (c) the death of the wicked 
woman; (d) the revelation of the identity of the hero.^ 

The incidents in the notation of the heroic romance will 
read: I; II 2 (modified); II 3, 4, 6, X 1; III; IV 3; V 2; 
VI 2; VI; VII 2 (modified; cf. note on 8); VI 3, (9b and 
9c, cf. note); (10, cf. note); II 5 (lib conventional); 1X2 
(modified); (13 not conventional); XI 2 (modified); (14b 
cf. note); (15a, b, not in Cassandra or Cleopatra); VII 3, 
XIII 2, (16c not in Cassandra or Cleopatra); XIII 1. 

Of these twenty-eight situations and incidents, seven- 
teen fall into the conventional pattern; and, with slight 
modification, five more. Two additional ones have parallels 
in one or the other of the romances. Of the remaining four, 
one is not conventional but unimportant, and three are 
conventional with other romances, although not occurring 
in Cassandra or Cleopatra. 

The outline as presented above includes the situations and 
incidents of the main plot which immediately concern the 
fortunes of the hero and heroine. In developing the main 
plot Dryden elaborated the character of the wicked woman 

•In the story of Tyridates-Mariamne (Cassandra, 438-50), the wicked 
woman charges the heroine with adultery. 

2 This is no new device, but was not used by La Calprenede. 

3 Although this is a stock method of solving diflaculties, Dryden is in- 
debted for this incident to Almahide, the bloody-heart birthmark establish- 
ing the relationship. 



La Calprenede's Romances 73 

by introducing additional incidents concerned chiefly with 
her character. Although these should be included in the 
main plot it has seemed best for the sake of clearness to list 
them separately. 

1. The wicked woman is loved by two suitors, one gener- 
ous, the other unscrupulous.^ 

2. She persuades the unscrupulous suitor by the promise 
of her hand to join an insurrectionist party in deposing his 
brother from the throne.^ 

3. The conspiracy failing, (a) the unscrupulous rival, 
repulsed, seeks to retrieve his fortunes by joining the Spanish 
against his brother; (6) the wicked woman takes refuge in 
a fortress outside the city. 

4. The wicked woman plays fast and loose with her two 
suitors as one or the other gets the upper hand.^ 

5. The noble suitor, after making many sacrifices for the 
sake of his love, (a) kills his unscrupulous rival; (6) and 
disillusioned by her hardheartedness, turns against her. 

6. The wicked woma^n accuses him of adultery with the 
heroine. 

7. When he is cleared of this charge she betrays the town 
to the enemy. 

8. For her perfidy she is made Queen of Granada, in 
which capacity she rules for a few moments gloating over her 
slaves.* 

9. And over the noble suitor who has been captured. 

10. The suitor stabs her. 

11. And then himself. 

1 In this assignment Dryden has duplicated the portion of the heroine. 

2 This temptation is a modification of the theme of the sacrifice of honor 
to love. For a discussion of this see above The Indian Queen, subplot 5. 

3 Cf. Almahide, III, iii, 60. 

« The brevity of her rule puts this in a class by itself. In Boyle's Herod 
the Great, probably written after The Conquest of Granada, the wicked woman 
rules an equally brief period. 



74 Herbert Wynford Hill 

The subplot presenting the story of the loves of Ozmjni 
and Benzayda has httle bearing on the main plot, and it 
does not conform to the heroic-romance pattern. It is as 
follows : 

The Subplot.^— 

1. The hero^ is in love with the daughter of a hostile 
house.' 

2. The hero performs wonders: (a) in amusement con- 
tests; (6) in mixed combats. 

3. The hero kills the brother of the heroine.* 

4. The hero is captured by the hostile faction. 

5. The heroine refuses to be his executioner. 

6. The hero is saved by: (a) the turning of the tide of 
battle; (6) and by the heroine, who unbinds him and gives 
him arms.^ 

7. The lovers fiee.^ 

8. They are captured by the Spanish. 

9. The hero is saved from execution by the queen. 

10. The hero protects the heroine's father from his own; 
The Spanish forces arriving he protects his own father from 
them.'^ 

11. The heroine's father is captured by the hero's father, 
(a) The hero offers himself in exchange; (6) the heroine 
disguised as a man offers herself in exchange ; (c) the heroine's 

1 The Ozmyn-Benzayda plot does not appear in Almahide. Some parts 
of it were taken from Ibrahim. 

» Ozmyn, not Almanzor; the heroine is Benzayda. 

» This is a variation of the conventional romance situation where the 
hero is in love with the daughter of the hostile ruler. 

* In William Joyner's The Roman Empress, pubUshed 1671, the hero kills 
the heroine's twin brother. 

6 Cf . Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 311+ ; Part II, pp. 544+. In Ibrahim the 
daughter of the emperor saves the hero condemned to die. 

6 The flight of the lovers has a parallel in Ibrahim. 

' Both Oroondates (Cassandra, 41) and Artaxerxes {Cassandra, 379) save 
the lives of the heroines' fathers hostile to them, and both take arms against 
their own fathers. Dryden has made more of fUial love than La Calprenede. 



La Calprenede's Romances 75 

father wishes to die to save the others ;^ (d) the hero's father 
is won over by their subhme spirit of self-sacrifice and yields 
consent to the union of the lovers. 

12. The hero assists the hero of the main plot in the trial- 
by-combat. 

La Calprenede uses a definite set of stock characters for 
his main and subordinate plots. In developing a full- 
fledged plot he begins with the set of characters immediately 
surroimding the hero, and enlarges by the simple process of 
duplicating this set; thus we find given to the heroine a 
generous and unscrupulous rival and a supporting heroine, 
who in her turn has a generous and unscrupulous rival, and 
if the plot will warrant, a supporting heroine of her own with 
attached generous and unscrupulous rivals. The supporting 
hero is fitted out in the same way with an obdurate ruler, a 
generous and unscrupulous rival, and possibly a supporting 
hero of his own, with attached obdurate ruler and a generous 
and unscrupulous rival. Dryden in The Conquest of Granada 
uses the same set of stock characters and builds up his set 
of characters in much the same way. 

Almanzor had his beginning in the characters of Monte- 
zuma and Cortez.2 This statement in no way contradicts 
Dryden's own assignment of the source of his hero to Achilles, 
Rinaldo, and Artaban, inasmuch as his acquaintance with 



» Cf. Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 564 +, and Davenants' Love and Honour for 
similar scenes of cumulative self-sacrifice. 

2 Martin Clifford {Notes upon Mr. Dryden's Poems in Four Letters, 
London, 1687, p. 7) wrote: " But I am strangely mistaken if I have not seen 
this very Almanzor of yours in some disguise about this Town, and passing 
vmder another name. Prethee tell me true, was not this Huff-cap once the 
Indian Emperour, and at another time did he not call himself Maximne ? Was 
not Lyndaraxa once called Almeria, I mean under Montezuma the Indian 
Emperour? I protest and vow they are either the same, or so alike, that 
I can't for my heart distinguish one from the other." 

(Clifford's criticisms are very biased and inferior, and here he has the 
names sUghtly mixed, but there is a certain point to his criticism.) 



76 Herbert Wynford Hill 

these three antedates the writing of the earlier plays. 
Dryden's words are •} 

I must therefore avow, in the first place, from whence I took 
the character. The first image I had of him, was from the AchiUes 
of Homer; the next from Tasso's Rinaldo (who was a copy of the 
former), and the third from the Artaban of Monsieur Calprenede, 
who has imitated both. 

In spite of Dryden's statement that he is more in love 
with Achilles and Rinaldo than with Cyrus and Oroondates 
it is perfectly evident that Almanzor more nearly resembles 
the latter than the former. 

As we have already observed, Almanzor is introduced in 
the same way that La Calprenede's principal heroes are 
introduced — taking the part of the weaker side in a combat; 
and from the same motive, an inborn sense of honor. We are 
straightway informed of the hero that in a recent war, 

This, sir, is he, who for the elder fought, 
And to the juster cause the conquest brought. 

And Abdalla, who is addressing the king, goes on to say that, 

Honom-'s the only idol of his eyes. 

In addition to this fine sense of honor Almanzor possesses 
two other dominant traits, enumerated by Dryden in the 
dedicatory preface i^ 

1 designed in him a roughness of character, impatient of injuries; 
and a confidence in himselfe, almost approaching to an arrogance. 

This roughness takes the form of fierceness inspiring awe 
and reverence in the hearts of his friends and paralyzing with 
terror his foes.^ With a glance he controls factions uncon- 

i Essay on Heroic Plays prefaced to The Conquest of Granada, Scott and 
Saintsbury ed. ol 1883, Vol. IV, p. 26. 

2 First ed. 

» Oroondates, the hero of Cassandra, possessed this quality to an extreme 
degree. 



La Calprenede's Romances 77 

trollable by the king.^ He bears two basilisks in his fierce 
eyes which frighten armies and control thrones. At his 
mere appearance foes melt away like dew before the sun. 
Even to those he loves his eyes are as lightning.^ 

He is impatient of restraint: when the guards move to 
seize him, he commands (Act I, scene 1, 1st ed., p. 8), 

Stand off; I have not leisure yet to dye.^ 

And this is his attitude toward all save the heroine. He 
addresses Boabdelin (Act V, scene 1, p. 58): 

» Dryden defends this extravagance in the closing pages of the Essay on 
Heroic Plays. 

2 Act III, scene 1. First ed., p. 27, Almahide exclaims: 
Mark but how terrible his Eyes appear! 
And yet there's sometliing roughly noble there, 
Which, in unfashion'd nature, looks Divine; 
And like a Gemm does in the Quarry shine. 
And implores him, 

.... I beg the grace 

You would lay by those terrours of your face. 
TiU calmness to your eyes you first restore 
I am afraid, and I can beg no more. 

5 When the king refuses to free his prisoner, he bursts out : 

He break my promise and absolve my vow! 
'Tis more than Mahomet himself can do. 

Chafing imder the restraint of all-consuming love, he addresses Almahide 
(Act III, scene 1, p. 29): 

I wonnot love you, give me back my heart. 
But give it as you had it fierce and brave; 
It was not made to be a woman's slave: 
But Lyon-like has been in desarts bred 
And, us'd to range, will Ne're be tamely led. 

He informs BoabdeUn that (Act I, scene 1, p. 8): 

My laws are made but only for my sake. 

He boasts to Abdalla (Act III, scene 1, p. 33): 

I am immortal; and a God to thee. 

If I would kill thee now, thy fate's so low 

That I must stoop 'ere I can give the blow 

But mine is fix'd so far above thy Crown, 

That all thy men 

Pil'd on thy back can never pull it down. 

But at my ease thy destiny I send. 

By ceasing from this hour to be thy friend. 

Like Heav'n I need but onely to stand still; 

And, not concurring to thy life, I kUl, 

Thou canst no title to my duty bring: 

I'm not thy Subject, and my Soul's thy king. 

Farewell, when I am gone 

There's not a starr of thine dare stay with thee: 

I'le whistle thy tame fortune after me: 

And whirl fate with me whereso'ere I fly. 

As winds drive storms before 'em in the sky. 



78 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Accept great King, tomorrow from my hand 
The captive head of conquer'd Ferdinand 
You shall not only what you lost regain 
But 'ore the Byscayn Mountains to the Mayn, 
Extend your sway, where never Moor did reign. 

We are comforted by the assurance of Abenamar — 

What in another Vanity would seem, 
Appears but noble confidence in him 
No Haughty boasting, but a manly pride. 

In these traits Almanzor resembles Artaban in detail. 
Artaban is the soul of honor. He possesses a certain 
"roughness of character" — in fact, we may continue with 
Dry den's words — "impatient of injuries; and a confidence 
of himself e, almost approaching arrogance." As in the 
case of Almanzor the roughness is ascribed in part to his 
having been reared outside of the court^ in obscurity. 
Artaban, like Almanzor, inspires fear by his terrible eyes; 
he controls armies with a glance, puts terror into the hearts 
of his foes, paralyzing them by his mere presence.^ The 

1 Cf. p. 366, the passage beginning, "With truth I may say he nourished 
me Uke Achilles," etc. 

2 Cf. Vol. I, pp. 218, 224; Vol. II, pp. 90, 546. The hero of Cassandra 
possesses a majesty so subUme that although in prison and at the mercy of an 
imscrupulous foe his appearance saves him: 

The Majesty of the Prince .... appear'd in so sublime a degree, that 
the affrighted Cassander thought he saw Are in his eyes and marks of Divinity 
in his face. And indeed he was so much dlsmai'd that his arm which he had 
Ufted up, siuik down without effect, and he stood with his heart frozen by a 
thousand terrors. — (^Cassa7idra, p. 551). 

In Cleopatra, Part II, Caesario tells how, when weak and defenceless 
through the loss of blood, lying on the battlefield, he is threatened by a woman 
furious through the loss of her lover, his beauty causes the upraised dagger to 
fall from her hand. 

When the king refuses to free the prisoners the hero has capttored he 
insolently addresses the king (Cleopatra, Part I, p. 224): 

Think not King of the Medes, said he, that I can either shrink at yoiir threats, 
or be bought with those benefits wherewith you upbraid me: No, both the 
one and the other are too much below me, and so long as I carried this sword 
about me (that put the Crown upon your head and cut you out a condition 
to talk Uke a Master upon the King of Parthia's Territories, that a few months 
since had scarce a comer of yom* own to secure you) I shall teach it to defend 
me against all my Enemies; and gather fairer Flowers of Dignity and Honour 
in the wide field of the World, than any I can hope from such a King as you. 

At the close of these words he tmiied his back upon the King without 
paying the least reverence to his person, and holding his hand upon the 



La Calprenede's Romances 79 

first sight the heroine has of him impresses her — as Almahide 
at her first meeting with Almanzor — with "a natural 
fierceness" and with "the sparkling vivacity of his eyes."^ 
He is impatient of restraint. 

Not only in these general traits has Dryden imitated La 
Calprenede's hero, but in the manipulation of some of the 
scenes. Let us take, for example, the handling of the scene 
where the hero, having saved the kingdom from ruin, asks 
as his only reward the hand of the heroine.^ 

Artaban skilfully opens the interview by reference to his 
recent victories and boastful assurance of conquests in the 
future; and the king, 

instructed by the proofs of a fortunate experience how capable 
he was to change his words into actions, Ustened to the same 
language from him, as he would have done to an oracle, which 
might have been interpreted from another mouth as the effects 
of a vain presumption. 

Almanzor opens the interview in the same way and we are 
assured of the hero: 

You can perform, brave warrior, what you please 
Fate listens to your voice, and then decrees. 

In both the play and the romance the king now deplores 
his inability to reward the hero adequately and begs him to 
name a gift in some measure worthy of such high desert. 

guard of his sword went out of the Chamber with an action so terrible, as of 
all these that were near the King, there was not a man so hardy as to oppose 
his passage, or had coiu-age enough to come near him. 

Like Almanzor, "fierce as Libian Lyon to all besides," he is in the heroine's 
presence "ever gentle and submissive." 

"Bom to disesteem the whole world," he boasts to Phraates (Cleopatra, 
Part I, p. 246): 

Sir, I do make you a promise of their mine, to be paid in less than is 
requisite to take exact survey of their Provinces, and if I do not lay both these 
Crowns at your feet, before Time be two years older, blot out the name of 
Artaban from your memory, and call me Impostor. 

1 Cf. Vol. I, 218. 

2 The same occurs in Cleopatra, Part I, p. 246; in The Conquest of Granada, 
Part I, Act V (scene 2), p. 57 (in the first edition this act is not divided into 
scenes). 



80 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Artaban, unwilling to let so fair an opportunity escape him, 

replies, 

No, Sir, said he, I will not always dwell upon these terms of 
refusal, and if till now, by so long forbearing to ask recompence, 
I have pas'd in your thoughts for a modest man, I shall doubtless 
now, by demanding one of too high a value, incur the censure of an 
insolent; Sir, you have that at your disposal, that carries a capacity, 
not only of rewarding my former services (they are too cheap and 
worthless to give me any right to so rich a salary) but indeed of 
overpaying (like a great and bounteous king) all the rest that I am 
prepared to render you. 

Almanzor replies in similar vein (The Conquest of Gra- 
nada, 1st ed., p. 58) : 

When I shall have declar'd my high request, 
So much presumption there will be confest, 
That you will find your gifts I do not shun; 
But rather much o'er-rate the service done. 

Artaban continues (Cleopatra, Part I, p. 246) : 

if I have rashly raised the wings of my desires that way, I do but 
take the just dimensions of your greatness, 

a figure of speech which Dryden puts into the mouth of 
Boabdelin in his reply to Almanzor's speech last quoted 
above (1st ed., p. 58): 

Give wing to your desires, and let 'em fly 
Secure, they cannot mount a pitch too high.* 

Boabdelin refuses the hero's request for the heroine, and 
continues (1st ed., p. 60): 

Dare not henceforth ungrateful me to call; 
What'ere I ow'd you, this has cancell'd all. 

My patience more than payes thy service past; 

1 Cf. also Almahide, III, iii, 73: 

Give all the swinge to your desires, as far as mortal wish can reach, they 
cannot soar too high a pitch. 



La Calprenede's Romances 81 

But know this insolence shall be thy last. 
Hence from my sight, and take it as a grace 
Thou liv'st, and art but banished from the place. 

— a speech which bears some resemblance to the speech of 
the king in the romance on this occasion (p. 247) : 

Say no more, said he, with a furious look, that I am ungrateful 
for the Services thou hast render'd me, and in lieu of that grand 
reward thy fancy hopes did aim at, receive thy life at the hands 
of my unmeritted mercy, which thy Insolence has forfeited: till 
now I never suffered reproach or menace from any mortal person, 
and thou alone hast put my patience to a proof, that would have 
been fatal to any other. 

Almahide is an excellent copy of the heroines of La Cal- 
prenede; beautiful, highly serious, gentle, and languishing, 
she is, however, capable of heroic deeds. Furthermore, she 
possesses marked wifely constancy; in the possession of this 
last trait she differs from the heroine of Almahide, and follows 
rather the example of the heroine of Cassandra. La Cal- 
prenede's heroine, as Dryden's, was in love with the hero 
before her marriage to the ruler; after her marriage she 
gives to the ruler the full measure of wifely constancy, 
defending him to the hero, and rejoicing in the preservation 
of his life by the hero. Parisatis, the supporting heroine of 
Cassandra, is equally constant under similar circumstances. 
Almahide of the romance is anything but the type of wifely 
constancy; her constant attitude toward the ruler, her 
husband, was of rebellion. Her attitude is well displayed 
in the following letter to her lover, written after her marriage : 

I am not BoabdeUn's, but by constraint, and therefore while 
you observe your Engagements to me, I will be better than my 
word to you. I know it as much afflicts you to be out of that 
Company you were wont to enjoy, as it grieves me to want my 
Trusty Slave. However, lay next your heart as much of me, as 



82 Herbert Wynford Hill 

I can at present afford, till my Destinies have otherwise dispos'd 
of me. Do nothing that may injure yourself or me; but above 
all things, have a care of that Life, which is so precious to 

Almahide 

Lyndaraxa was probably originally intended to be the 
stock unscrupulous rival of the heroine, but this capable 
and fascinating woman develops so rapidly under the hand 
of the entranced author that she quite outstrips her type 
and challenges in interest the heroine herself. Dryden may 
have drawn some suggestions for this character from Cadige 
in Almahide;^ but no one can read The Indian Queen and 
The Indian Emperor without feeling that the character 
had its beginning in the two wicked women, Zempoalla and 
Almeria, the latter especially having much in common with 
Lyndaraxa. In elaborating this character, Dryden gives 
her two suitors, one noble, the other unscrupulous. 

Dryden^ criticizes Davenant for scanting his images: 

The Laws of an Heroick Poem did not dispence with those of 
the other, but rais'd them to a greater height: and indulg'd him 
a farther liberty of Fancy, and of drawing all things as far above 
the ordinary proportion of the Stage, as that is beyond the common 
words and actions of humane life: and therefore in the scanting 
of his Images, and design, he comply 'd not enough with the great- 
ness and Majesty of an Heroick Poem. 

» She [Cadige] finding herself courted by the Prince of the Moors, and one 
that was in a fair way of dispossessing his Brother, in regard his Ambition was 
always contriving against him, as she was a Woman of a haughty and aspiring 
Spirit. Does Andalla court thee? said she to herself, wherefore then dost 
thou not submit to the Brother of a King? Is it because thou wouldst not 
be true to A mat ? .... Is it not better to be a Queen and cease to love the 
inconstant Amat, than to be faithful, and continue only bare Cadige f Well, let 
him be Bang first. 

When Andalla puts her the question (p. 61), "Were my Brother dead 
and I King would you then accept of my affections ? " She replies: "I would 
accept of yours or any man's affection upon that condition." 

She is as little troubled as Lyndaraxa at the news of the death of one of 
her suitors. At the close she happily marries AndaUa. 

2 Essay on Heroic Plays, pref. to 1st ed. 



La Calprenede's Romances 83 

There is no scanting of images or design in The Conquest 
of Granada; everjd^hing is sufficiently beyond the common 
words and actions of human life. In giving range to his 
fancy there is little restraint; he allows the utmost freedom, 
frequently passing the bounds of good taste ancient or 
modern. In the development of the plot he carries incidents 
through to the bitter end and wrings the last possibility 
out of every situation. Each morsel of emotion is rolled 
under the tongue until the final intoxicating drop of sweet- 
ness is drawn out. When the author mounts the winged 
steed of imagery there are gambols and cavortings marvelous 
and dizzying to behold. 

Love is like a tempest that outrides the wind ; a lethargy 
that seizes the will; it lures the unfortunate victim on to his 
ruin even as a skater sees the water near yet cannot stop 
himself in his career. Almanzor's falling in love is described 
by himself.^ 

I'me pleas'd and pain'd, since first her eyes I saw, 

As I were stung with some Tarantula 

Armes, and the dusty field, I less admire; 

And soften strangely in some new desire; 

Honour burns in me, not so fiercely bright; 

But pale, as fires when mastered by the light. 

Ev'n while I speak and look, I change yet more; 

And now am nothing that I was before. 

I'm numm'd, and fix'd, and scarce my eyeballs move; 

I fear it is the Lethargy of Love ! 

'Tis he; I feel him now in every part: 

Like a new Lord he vaunts about my Heart; 

Surveys, in state, each corner of my Brest, 

While poor fierce I, that was, am dispossessed. 

I'm bound; but I will rowze my rage again: 

And, though no hope of Liberty remaine, 

I'll fright my Keeper when I shake my chaine. 

I p. 28. 



84 Herbert Wynford Hill 

— where love is tarantula, a lethargy, a lord, and a jailor in 
rapid succession. A few lines farther on, love is a tempest^ 
and then Almanzor discovers: 

I'm all o're love: 

Nay, I am Love ; Love shot, and shot so fast, 

He shot himseK into my brest at last. 

Abdalla says of Lyndaraxa (1st ed., p. 23) : 

Her tears, her smiles, her every look's a Net. 
Her voice is hke a Syren's of the Land; 
And bloody Hearts he panting in her hand. 

In these excesses Dryden is following the heroic poems 
of the day rather than the heroic romances of La Calprenede. 

In his use of a war background Dryden was following 
the prevailing heroic practice. The war situation he drew 
from Almahide III, 111.^ For the use of supernatural 
agencies, such as the ghost, and the voice from heaven, 
precedents are not wanting in La Calprenede's romances, 
although there is no trace of indebtedness.^ In the intro- 
duction of songs and the Zambra dance he was catering to 
the taste fostered by the contemporary stage. In the use 
of wit combats he was following the school of Scudery 
rather than of La Calprenede. 

With The Conquest of Granada the type of the heroic play 
was well established; the succeeding plays follow closely the 
same lines, the characters, situations, and incidents being 
repeated time and again with slight variation. Lee perhaps 
more than any other writer gave to the heroic play its popu- 
larity. Otway in two plays Aldbiades and Don Carlos 

1 Quineaiolt uses the same situation in one of his plays which was trans- 
lated and published in 1659 by Sir William Lower imder the title. The Noble 
Ingratitude. It is curious to note that the play has two names in common 
with The Conquest of Granada neither of which is found in Almahide; these are 
Almansor and Linderache. 

2 In his Essay on Heroic Plays, Dryden defends the use of specters and 
magic, claiming, "for ought we know, they may be in nature." Cf. also The 
Indian Emperor, Act II, scene 1. 



La Calprenede's Romances 85 

gave variety to the type by introducing a tragic conclusion. 
It would be interesting to note the stock situations and 
incidents in the whole group and enumerate their occurrence 
in each of the plays. However, in presenting the influence 
of La Calprenede it has seemed best to confine the discus- 
sion to those plays that present specific evidence of borrow- 
ings from Cassandra and Cleopatra. These plays we will 
discuss in the order of their appearance. 

Herod and Mariamne 
Three years after the appearance of The Conquest of 
Granada, there was acted at the Duke's Theater another 
play inspired by Cleopatra} This play Herod and Mari- 
amne'^ was written by Samuel Pordage, an author whose 
indebtedness to La Calprenede in a later play written in 
1678 — The Siege of Babylon — ^we shall note in its place. 
Although not published until 1673, the play was written 
some eleven years earlier, as we are told in the prologue to 
the 1674 edition: 

This play was pretty once for aught we know, 
When 'twas first writ, a dozen years agoe. 

A dozen years agoe, and in its prime; 
And n'ere launcht out till now. 

No author is assigned in either the editions of 1673 or 1674. 
Settle, who was responsible for the staging and publishing 

1 Of the success of the play we learn from the preface to Fenton's Mari- 
amne: "We have Reason to suspect this was of no great reputation because 
a merry Story is recorded of it." The story presents Rochester's advice to 
biim the play. 

2 The title-page of the first edition reads: "Herod and Mariamne. A 
Tragedy. Acted at the Duke's Theatre, 

Stulta est dementia, cum tot ubique 

Vatibus occuras, perturae parcere chartae. — Juven. 

London, Printed for William Cademan, at the Popes Head in the Lower Walk 
of the New Exchange in the Strand, 1673." Another edition came out the 
following year. 



86 Herbert Wynford Hill 

of the play writes in the "Epistle Dedicatory to the Princess 
Elizabeth Dutchess of Albemarle":^ 

.... the hasty Representation of it did not give me time to 
put a finishing hand to it, the first Copy of it being given me by a 
Gentleman, to use and form as I pleas'd, I humbly implore, that, 
what the present wants may be supplyed by the Zeal and Obedience 
of, etc. 

There can be no doubt, however, as to the authorship, for 
Pordage in the title-page of The Siege of Babylon advertises 
himself as the author of the Tragedy of Herod and Mariamne 
(cf. below, footnote to p. 116). 

The play follows the history of Tyridates and Mariamne 
in La Calprenede's Cleopatra, in situations, in incidents, 
minute details and phrasing.^ It is doubtful that Pordage 
had ever seen Josephus, Philo-Judaeus, Eberus, or Egysippus: 
all the points which the play has in common with the his- 
tories are found in the romance; the points wherein the 
play differs from Cleopatra are not taken from history; and 
in the numerous places where Pordage departs from history 
he follows La Calprenede.^ 

1 Prom the 1673 edition. 

2 Langbaine writes: "For the plot, I think the author has follow'd Mr. 
Calprenede's Cleopatra a Romance in the Story of Tyridates; but for the true 
History consult Josephus, Philo-Judaeus, Eberus, Egysippus, etc." 

' Boyle and Fenton wrote plays on the same subject. Although Boyle 
was doubtless lamtUar with La Calprenede's romance, his play Herod the Great 
(pubUshed posthumously 1694) shows little trace of any influence. The two 
plots bear Uttle resemblance, the characters do not strongly resemble those of 
the romance, and the hero is not drawn to the fiill heroic lines of La Calpre- 
nede's heroes. He exhibits little courage imtil the close where, in a fit of mad 
despair at the death of the Queen, he kills her mxrrderer, the King. He is a 
pleasing character, but lacks the vigor and fierceness of the romance type. 
Mariamne of all the characters most nearly approaches the type of the romance: 
she is beautiful, languishing, yet proud and imperious. Although in love with 
the hero, she is faithful to her husband, whom she detests, even saving his Ufe 
at the risk of her own. In the bounds of his wickedness the ruler falls Uttle 
short of Lee's Nero. Salome strongly resembles Lyndaraxa of The Conquest 
of Granada. 

Fenton's Mariamne by its lateness (1723) falls outside the bounds set 
for our discussion. It is interesting chiefly for a curious preface entitled: 
"The History of Herod and Mariamne collected and compiled from the best 



La Calprenede's Romances 87 

With the connivance of Sohemus, Tyridates visits Mari- 
amne and declares his love for her. Salome, the King's 
sister, persecutes Tyridates with her love, and, failing to win 
him, she sets about planning his ruin and that of Mariamne. 
On Herod's return she accuses Tyridates of being Mariamne's 
accepted lover, and Herod joins her in plotting the destruc- 
tion of the innocent pair. Tyridates narrowly misses being 
poisoned and is forced to flee for refuge to a temple. Through 
the influence of a Roman legate he wins the privilege of 
leaving the kingdom unharmed. Sohemus reveals to 
Mariamne that Herod had commanded her death in case 
Herod did not return from his visit to Augustus; and in an 
unguarded moment Mariamne reproaches Herod with this 
cruelty, with the result that Sohemus is sent to the rack, and 
Mariamne to prison. This brings us to Act V. Thus 
far the action follows that of Cleopatra. From this point 
on, with the exception of the trial scene, which is copied 
from the romance, Pordage follows neither La Calprenede 
nor history. Mariamne is executed. Tyridates returns at 
once on hearing of this and kills Herod, he himself receiving 
his death wound. ^ 

The extent of the author's indebtedness to La Calprenede 
may best be shown by citing a few parallel passages. 

Historians and serving to illustrate the Fable of Mr. Fenton's Tragedy of that 
name." Under this head the writer has gathered several pages verbatim 
from La Calprenede's story of Herod and Mariamne in Cleopatra. Evidently 
he considered La Calprenede the best among the historians, for he quotes no 
other so copiously. 

There is no good e\'idence that Fenton based any of his play on La Cal- 
prenede's account. He follows Josephus much more closely throughout. He 
does not introduce a lover for Mariamne. The King's jealousy is aroused 
by Marianme's upbraiding him for his command to put her to death in case 
of tiis death in battle. This leads him to suspect Sohemus as a rival in the 
aflfections of the Queen. The use of the poisoned bowl to heighten the Iving's 
suspicions of his wife is taken from Josephus. It does not occur in La Cal- 
prenede. 

' For this departure from history in hastening the death of Herod, Genest 
severely criticizes Pordage. It is interesting to note that Boyle used much the 
same conclusion in Herod the Great. 



88 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Herod and Mariamne Cleopatra (Part I) 

Mariamne expresses her attitude toward Herod, an 
attitude maintained throughout the play and the romance. 

I, iii, p. 51 P. 13 

Mar. But yet that monster is [Mar.] .... (as much mon- 
my Husband still. ster as he is) he is yet my hus- 

band. 

Tyridates, her lover, is more impatient. 



I, iv, p. 8 
Tyrid. Oh, Gods! how can you 

thus unmov'd behold 
The best piece ever made of 

humane mold; 
The work of your own hands, 

giv'n up to be 
A subject for a Monster's 

Cruelty. 

Now Herod is her Persecutor 

grown, 
I him no longer my Protector 

own; 



P. 11 

[Tyrid.] And can the Gods 
permit the most perfect piece 
that ever they put their hands 
to, to be given up to the Cruel- 
ties of such an Inhumane? 



P. 13 

[Tyrid.] TiUnow .... in the 
person of Mariamne's Perse- 
secuter I found my Protector; 
but at last, Madame, the resent- 
ments of what I owe him, have 
quitted what they held within 



Tyridates disguised as a guard visits Mariamne in her 
prison chamber. 



I, vi, p. 10 

(Stage directions) "Tyr. run- 
ning to her Kneels" 

Mar. Defend me Heav'n, 
what's this I here behold! 

One of my Guard so Impudent 
and Bold! 



P. 12 

[Tyridates teUing the story] 

I fell upon my knees 

The Queen finding this Action 
too famihar (and too passion- 
ate for a Guard) at first repulst 
me. Then recognizing liim: 

» The page references, unless otherwise stated, are to the edition of 1673. 



La Calprenede's Romances 



89 



Ah! 
you' 



Herod and Mariamne 

Tyridates, ha! what does your 
rashness mean ? 

Do not you know 'tis Death to 
see the Queen? 

Tyr. Madam, I do: but dan- 
gers I defy, 

And I could wish them far more 
great, and nigh. 

I no occasion had till now to 
show 

How little I do value Life for 
you. 

Throughout this scene, the play closely paraphrases the 
romance. One more parallel must be quoted : 



Cleopatra 
Tyridates, what mean 
To what a Danger have 
you exposed yourself ? 

[Tyrid.] Danger, Madame, 
Ah! that the Gods would con- 
front me with a thousand times 
more, that I might find occa- 
sion to show you how mean a 
thing I think my life in relation 
to your service. 



Tyr. Ah, wou'd the Gods! that 

Tyridates cou'd 
Buy off Your Sufferings Madame 

with his Blood: 
Or end Your Troubles with his 

Punishment, 
By all the Deaths that Herod 

could Invent. 
How fair would be my Fate to 

pay to you 
My Life; to whom all Hearts, 

all Lives are due: 



P. 11 

[Tyr.] Ah, might it please the 
Gods, cried I, wholly trans- 
ported, that your evils might 
be bought off with the cruellest 
death that Herod is capable 
of inventing, with what glad 
heart should I run to embrace 
those glorious torments — how 
fair would be my Destiny to pay 
down my life for this adorable 
Princess, to whom all Lives, all 
Hearts ought to be sacrificed! 



Salome confesses her love to Tyridates in a picture 
gallery. After brief reference to the history of Pharaoh, 
David, and Solomon she proceeds: 



II, iv, p. 18 
Salom. Whilst thus you pass 

your judgment Sir on them; 
Consider that yourself you do 

Condemn. 



P. 18 

You have said 

convince yourself 



[Salome] 
enough to 
.... you should consider 
what you owe to Princesses, 



90 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Herod and Mariamne 

You to a Princess have appeared 
too Rude, 

And for true Love return'd in- 
gratitude. 

Though she has left no Realms 
to visit you, 

Yet that which is more hard, 
she does pursue. 

Thus the scene continues loosely paraphrasing the scene 
in the romance. Salome leaves in a rage threatening: 

You'l be no more with such Your perplexities shall no 
Discourses vext. more be redoubled by a Dis- 



Cleopatra 
who ('tis true) have neither 
abandoned Realms, nor trav- 
ersed Provinces to see you; 
but abandoned for your sake a 
Liberty more dear than Em- 
pires, .... 



And since you with affection 

are opprest, 
That Importunity shall be re- 

dres't: 



course so disobliging; and since 
you are opprest with Affection, 
there shall be care taken to free 
you of that importunity. 



Herod leaves Mariamne in a garden with Tyridates for 
her entertainment. As Herod departs Mariamne says: 



III, i, p. 21 

Had Herod known, you did my 
Love pursue. 

He would not now have given 
my hand to you. 

And since you did to me your 
Thoughts commit, 

I ought my self too, to have 
hinder'd it. 

But that I judg'd I might with- 
out offence; 

Either to yours, or my own 
Innocence. 

Did I beUeve you harbour in 
your Breast 

A thought to my Dishonour 
I'de Detest 

You as a Monster, and my Mor- 
tal Foe. 



P. 16 

If the King knew your in- 
tentions, he would not put me 
into your hands with so much 
confidence, and since they were 
known to me, I ought to have 
hindered it ... . and prob- 
ably I had too, if I had not 
beUeved I might permit your 
converse .... without inter- 
essing what I owe to him or to 
my self .... I did believe 
you could harbour a thought 
to my dishonour, I would look 
upon you as a Monster, as a 
Mortal Enemy. 



La Calprenede's Romances 



91 



The remainder of this dialogue follows the conversation 
of the romance. Salome entering, Tyridates scorns her and 
Mariamne speaks: 



Herod and Mariamne 
III, i, p. 23 
Are you so Cruel then to Ladys 
grown! 



Cleopatra 
P. 19 
Are you so cruel then to 
Ladies that love you? 

[I] cannot countenance yours 
without incurring the same sin 
you condemn in Salome. 



That sin which you in Salome 

condemne; 
Would you Mariamne, should 

in you esteem? 

Herod enters and, coldly received by Mariamne, com- 
mands : 



III, i, p. 24 
Hence scornful Woman, from 

my Presence go : 
Since not your Husband, you, 

your King shall Know: 
Your Fathers Destinies you do 

forget. 



P. 17 (another scene) 
Go, get you out of my 
Chamber, and if you do not 
remember the destiny of your 
Fathers, remember that I 
promise to make you know him 
for your King, whom you now 
scorn to acknowledge for your 
Husband. 



Salome now stirs up the King's wrath against Tyridates: 



III, i, p. 27 
'Tis not her Kindred's Blood 

moves thus her mind. 
No; her disdain is of another 

kind. 
To you a Rock she unrelenting 

stands. 
Yet Tyridates' s Love, her heart 

commands. 

In a fury Herod rushes to 
beauty calms him: 



P. 24 

Her aversion doth not spring 
from a resentment for the death 
of her Kindred 

That Rock so insensible to 
your Caresses, is not so imre- 
lenting to others, for that Par- 
thian .... does doubtless love 
her with better luck than you. 

Mariamne's chamber; her great 



92 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Cleopatra 
P. 26 
those tempests which rage .... 
grew calm in a moment; of one 
terrible as a Lion, in a few 
minutes he became mild and 
tractable. 



Herod and Mariamne 

III, ii, p. 28 

Herod. I that with horrid 

thoughts of Rigour came. 
Am of a suddain, how I know 

not. Tame. 
Sure 'tis not I — I am no Lyon 

now — 
The Furies humbly to that 

Sweetness bow. 

These parallels, chosen from many, illustrate Pordage's 
method. In passing, the reader might notice especially 
Pordage's paraphrase of Mariamne's letter to Tyridates 
(cf. H. and M., Ill, iv; compare with Cleopatra, p. 27) of 
Tyridates' speech to Herod at the Temple gate {H. and M., 

III, vi, p. 35, Cleopatra, p. 31); of Mariamne's speech 
to Tyridates when he visits her for the last time (H. and M., 

IV, i, p. 38; Cleopatra, p. 32). 

Herod's speech, when he learns of Mariamne's knowledge 
of his orders to kill her, illustrates well the close attention 
with which Pordage must have read the romance: 



IV, ii, p. 42 
I am Betray 'd! Undone! 
Those who my Trust into my 

Bosome drew, 
Forsake me and betray my 

Secrets too. 
To what Extremities am I 

reduc'd, 
By Slaves and a Disloyel Wife 

abused. 



P. 440 

I am betraj'^ed, I am undone 
.... all those whom I thought 
worthy of my friendship and 
my confidence, ingratefully 
unite themselves to ruine me. 

Ah! envious Heaven! Ah! 
disloyal Wife! Ah! ungratefuU 
and perfidious Servants! to what 
extremities do you reduce me ? 



Act V departs from the romance. In Mariamne's trial 
scene, however, Pordage paraphrases Cleopatra. The speech 
of one of the judges will sufficiently illustrate his indebted- 
ness: 



La Calprenede's Romances 



93 



Herod and Mariamne 
IV, ii, p. 53 

Madam! we know 

What to your 

Birth and quaUty we owe: 

Which hitherto we with respect 
have paid. 

The King on us has this In- 
junction laid: 

To whom it is our Duty to 
obey; 

And you as well as we should 
homage pay : 

You'l guilty seem, if you do 
this refuse. 

Queens ought to clear them- 
selves when Ejngs accuse. 



Cleopatra 
P. 443 
We have rendered what we 
owed to your birth and quaUty, 
as long as it hath pleased the 
King to permit us and we have 
not sought an employment 
which yet we could not refuse, 
when he was pleased to lay it 
upon us: but seeing that by 
his absolute will we have been 
appointed to it, and that the 
authority which you have had 
over us, ought to submit to 
his, you will not find it strange, 
if it please you, that we examine 
you upon the accusations which 
he himself lays against you. 



Mariamne's speech before she is led away to execution 
closely paraphrases that in the romance: 



V, iii, p. 57 
Mar. The blood of Philon 

and Sohemus shed. 
Will pull down Vengeance on 

his guilty head: 
And if my Death is stain'd by 

any guilt, 
'Tis 'cause imprudently their 

blood I spilt. 
For Tyridates, I confess 'tis 

true, 
I render'd what was to his 

Vertue due. 
Acknowledgments and Inno- 
cent esteem. 
And that was all I ever gave 

to him. 



P. 447 
Tell him that the blood of 
Joseph and Sohemus, which 
he hath shed, will cry for ven- 
geance against him: and that 
if I be culpable at my death, it 
is because, that by my impru- 
dence, I have caused the ruine 
of those innocent persons: As 
for Tyridates, I thank God, I 
feel no remorse of conscience 
that can accuse me of the least 
fault against my Husband, and 
I hold no other thoughts for 
his person but of acknowledg- 
ment and esteem as due his 
vertue. 



94 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Pordage has copied without change the names and 
traits of La Calprenede's characters. Tyridates has taken 
on some of the traits of Artaban; and Salome is consider- 
ably heightened. If as the author claims the play was 
written in 1662, Salome is distinctly the predecessor of 
Lyndaraxa. Otherwise the characters are those of the 

romance. 

Gloriana^ 

In 1676 Gloriana was acted at the Theatre Royal. This 
was the third of Lee's plays.^ The two preceding — Sopho- 
nisha and Nero — are treatments of historical subjects in 
thoroughly romantic fashion.^ 

Lee wrote plays drawn from three of La Calprenede's 
romances, Cassandra,^ Cleopatra,^ and Pharamondf and in 
nearly all of his plays there are signs of the influence of the 
French romancer.'' Gloriana was the first of his plays, how- 
ever, indebted in a marked degree to La Calprenede. This, 

1 First published 1676. The title-page of the first edition reads: 
"Gloriana, or the Coxirt of Augustus Caesar. Acted at the Theatre- 
Royal, By Their Majesties Servants. 

Quibus haec, sint qualiacunque 
Arridere vehm, doUturus si placeant spe 
Deterius nostra. — Hor. Sat. 10. 
By Nat Lee, London, 
Printed for J. Magnes and R. Bentley, in Russell-street in Covent-Garden, near 
Piazza's, Anno Dom. MDCLXXVI. 

Other editions were published in 1699, 1734. 

2 The title-page of the 1699 edition of Gloriana has at the bottom a list of 
"the works of Mr. Nathaniel Lee, in the Order they were written, viz — 
Sophonisba; or Hqnnibals Overthrow, Nero, Gloriana; or the Court of Augustus 
Caesar, Alexander THE Great, Mithridates King of Pontus, Theodosius; or the 
Force of Love, Caesar Borgia, Lucius Brutus, Constantine, Oedipus King of 
Thrace, Duke of Guise, Massacre of Paris, Princess of Cleves." 

3 Lee makes temperate Scipio fret and rave 
And Hannibal, a whining Amorous Slave. 

* The Rival Queens. 
' Gloriana. 

* Theodosius, or the Force of Love, acted at the Duke's Theatre, 1680. 

^ La Calprenede's influence is most pronounced in the earlier plays ending 
with Theodosius, 1680. Lucius Junius Brutus, 1681, was influenced by Scudery's 
Clelia; The Princess of Cleve, by Madame de la Fayette's Princess of Cleves. 



La Calprenede's Romances 95 

as all the plays influenced by La Calprenede up to this time, 
was from Cleopatra. Langbaine^ writing of the source says, 
"The Plot I take to be rather founded on Romance than 
History, as the Reader will find by comparing the Play with 
the Romance of Cleopatra, in the several Stories of Caesario, 
Marcellus and Julia; Part 1 Book 3. Part 5 Book 3. 
Ovid, Cypassis and Julia, Part 7 Book 3." 

In the handling of the story, however, Lee shows slight 
dependence on his source; he exercised as much freedom as 
with the historical material of the two earlier plays Nero and 
Sophonisba. The completed play resembles no plot in all 
La Calprenede. There is, to be sure, a Caesario in Cleopatra, 
who bears marked resemblance to the hero of the play, and 
Gloriana bears even more resemblance to Candace the heroine 
of the Caesario story in Cleopatra; but their fortunes are 
widely diverse and their end far different: in Cleopatra the 
hero and heroine are happily married ; in Gloriana they suffer 
death. Marcellus is the Marcellus of the romance ridicu- 
lously exaggerated, but Julia is hardly recognizable: in the 
romance she is simply inconstant, in the play reflections are 
cast upon her morals; in the romance she is unmarried and 
in love with the hero, in the play she is married to Marcellus 
and nothing is said of her love for the hero. As for the 
plot the hints he gathered from La Calprenede were for 
separate incidents and situations rather than for the story 
as a whole. 

The important incidents and situations of Gloriana are as 
follows : 

1. The hero, enemy to the ruler, and supposedly dead, 
returns to the court of Augustus and is captured. (This 
follows the Caesario-Candace story in Cleopatra, Part II, 
p. 485.) 

1 An Account of the Dramatic Poets, p. 322. 



96 Herbert Wynford Hill 

2. The hero is condemned to die. (This follows the 
romance Cleopatra, Part II, p. 544.) 

3. The hero falls suddenly and violently in love with the 
heroine. (This clearly follows the conventional lines rather 
than the romance; in Cleopatra, Caesario renders his arms to 
Candace's triumphant beauty when she is eleven years old.) 

4. The heroine, captive to the ruler, spurns his advances ; 
he tries to force her to marry him. (Lee has here assigned 
to Augustus the role played by Tiribasus in the romance, 
Cleopatra, Part I, 175. Tiribasus usurps the throne of 
Candace and tries to force a marriage. The Augustus of the 
romance is at no time in love with Candace. From here to 
the close the ruler is drawn from Tiribasus rather than from 
Augustus.) 

5. The hero rescues the heroine from the ruler. (This fol- 
lows the romance, Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 203 +, the ruler 
still in the role of Tiribasus.) 

6. The hero and the heroine are recaptured by the ruler. 
(Here Lee departs from the romance; the heroine is recap- 
tured in Cleopatra, Part I, pp. 206 +, but by the pirate 
Zenodorus, not by the ruler.) 

7. All attempt by sacrifice to save the life of the hero : 

a) The hero's friend. (This is taken from the main plot 
of Cleopatra, where Marcellus offers to sacrifice himself for 
Coriolanus — Part II, p. 565 — as is the rest of this scene, 
where each wishes to sacrifice himself for the others, and 
where other members of the court plead for the hero. This 
is, however, conventional ; cf . The Siege of Rhodes, and The 
Conquest of Granada. 

h) The lovelorn maiden sues successfully for the life of 
her hero. (This is apparently invented by the author.) 

c) The heroine offers to marry the ruler to save the hero's 
life. 



La Calprenede's Romances 97 

8. The lovelorn maiden slanders the heroine and re- 
proached by the hero dies of a broken heart. (This is not 
in the romance.) 

9. The friend of the hero, crazed with grief at his sister's 
death, threatens the hero; reproached by the hero he dies 
of a broken heart. (This is not from the romance.) 

10. The hero hastens to Augustus' chamber, where the 
heroine, dagger in hand, is awaiting the ruler's coming. 
(This is not from the Caesario story of Cleopatra.y 

11. The heroine accused by the hero of infidelity kills 
herself. (This is not from the romance.) 

12. The ruler enters and kills the hero. (In the romance 
the hero kills Tiribasus.) 

As for the plot, then, Lee is not greatly indebted to his 
source: the first three acts present a radical working-over 
of some of the incidents and situations of the Caesario story, 
but the last two acts follow the story not at all, the end being 
tragic as in nearly all of Lee's plays. Nor is there any marked 
indebtedness of phrasing. Occasionally, however, a passage 
stuck in Lee's memory, and was carried over into the play; 
such is the following, where the hero addresses the ruler :^ 

Gloriana, p. 3 Cleopatra, Part II, p. 486 

I am by birth what you adopted You are only by adoption what 
are I am by birth 

But there is no dependence on the text of Cleopatra; Lee 
probably never consulted the romance during the course of 
the writing of the play. 

The characters of Gloriana are more or less the stock 
characters familiar to us in the pages of The Conquest of 

> Cf. Pharamond, Part I, p. 270 and Part II, p. 134; Pharamond was not 
translated, however, until the following year. Rowe in The Ambitious Step- 
Mother presents a somewhat similar scene when Amestris stabs Mirza when he 
attempts to force her. 

2 The scene and circimastances are the same in both. 



98 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Granada. Caesario is the invincible, boastful hero of the 
Artaban-Almansor type. Like these he has been reared 
outside of court •} 

A Souldier, Fair one, bred to bloud, in Arms, 
In Winter Camps wliich mighty Action warms; 
I know not Courts, unskill'd in the soft trade 
By which address is to high Beauty made : 

He tells her friends,^ 

Ev'n in my childhood I was more than man, 
Bears in my Non-age slew, and Stags out-ran. 

He continues to tell her how he killed a lion, thus saving his 
mother's life; and his friend Leander not responding with 
sufficient enthusiasm, he replies. 

Fall! by my valour! saw him! is that all? 

Thou speaks't Leander as thou didst repine; 

Thou shouldst have said, it was an act Divine, 

A God-like act, to see a ruddy Boy 

With milk on's Ups, the Royal beast destroy. 

With my gay Sword, brandish'd above my Crest, 

O'respread with Plumes, and with Queens favours dress'd 

I cros'd the Savage, eager for his prey. 

Who daunted with my aspect shun'd the fray: 

But I out-run him, though he got the start 

And flesh'd my little Rapier in his heart. 

This mighty slayer of beasts is insolent and defiant to 
the ruler, when captured, and even defies love, imploring 
Heaven never to forgive him if he yields. But when he 
meets the heroine, although ''with eyes quick rouling 
flame" the presence that daunted lions inspires her with 
awe, he himself cries out:^ 

Why beats my heart as I had poison ta'en ? 
What means my burning breast and giddy brain ? 
Swift thrilling cold with panick terrour flies, 

1 Act II, p. 15, fltst edition. 2 Act II, p. 10, first edition. 

' Act III, p. 30, first edition. 



La Calprenede's Romances 99 

And an unsual thaw dissolves my eyes; 
If Love thou art, I will not take the wound, 
My Armour shall thy pointed darts confound; 
I'le draw 'em, if they cannot be withstood; 
Though to the Feathers drinking in my blood; 
Then shake 'em at her eyes with fix'd disdain, 
And Hurl 'em to thy Godhead back again. 

Gloriana is the stock bright-eyed heroine, beautiful, 
languishing, but filled with dauntless courage. The hero 
describes her:^ 

But sure so bright a fiow'r on Earth ne're grew: 
Her lips, her cheeks must more than Roses be; 
What Stars her eyes, what moving Majesty? 
So sweet and so imperious too they move, 
SparkUng with beauty, Ghtt'ring all with Love. 

And later,2 

more fair then the red mornings dawn, 
Sweeter then Pearley dews that scent the lawn; 
Then blue ey'd Violets, or the damask Rose, 
When in her hottest fragrancy she glows. 
And the cool West her wafted odour blows.' 

She is utterly without fear of death, openly defying 
Augustus; she even longs for death:* 

Methinks I long in those dark walks to tread, 

And wrap my self about with honour'd Lead, 

Where all the Worthies of the Earth lye dead. 

Nor shall my Spirit in that pond'rous case 

Be kept, but shoot as rays through Chrystal pass; 

Through doors of death,. with Mountains pil'd on Rocks, 

With thousand Bars, and with ten thousand Locks, 

Like Lightning she shall cut her sacred way 

Through all, and rise to everlasting day. 

1 Act III, p. 29, first edition. 
- Act IV, p. 45, first edition. 
» Cf. Twelfth Night, opening lines. 
*P. 36. 



100 Herbert Wynford Hill 

She is very cool as she waits, dagger in hand, the arrival 
of Augustus. And after she has stabbed herself she finds 
death less dreadful than the angry brow of the hero. 

Marcellus is borrowed from the main plot of Cleopatra. 
He is the type of the generous friend carried to absurd 
extremes. 

Narcissa is the conventional lovelorn maiden but pos- 
sessed of more spirit than most of her type. She faces 
Gloriana furiously: 

But I will be reveng'd, to pieces tear 

Those borrow'd eyes, and that inchanted hair. 

And in the end she dies with a lie on her lips unflinching, 
unrepentant, longing as her heaven that which alone can 
give her soul lasting peace — the love of the hero. 

Augustus is drawn from the character of Tiribasus rather 
than from history or than from the Augustus of the romance. 
He is a favorite type with Lee : nearly all of Lee's rulers are 
unscrupulous, lustful, and in love with the heroines; in 
Mithridates the king is in love with both of his son's mis- 
tresses. 

In the prologue to Nero^ Lee wrote, 

'Tis a fine Age, a tearing thundering Age, 

Pray Heav'n this Thund'ring does not crack the Stage. 

Just how much of Lee's thundering was due to the age 
and how much to his own taste is hard to determine; both 
were in part responsible. As a young writer seeking money 
and reputation he naturally would pander to the styles 
most in vogue. To this tendency he was impelled also by the 
example and outspoken encouragement of Dryden.^ Fur- 
thermore, he possessed a natural impetuosity and fervor of 
temperament that made the assuming of a high heroic style 
very easy. The young man who threw himself headlong into 

I First edition, 1675. 2 Cf. below, p. 113. 



La Calprenede's Romances 101 

the dissipation of the fast set of London discovered the riot- 
ous vein of the heroic style much to his hking. Thus we 
find a certain naturalness and ease that approaches poise 
in his most extreme outbursts, and, when he chooses to 
exercise restraint, a simple dignity that is delightful. The 
opening lines of Gloriana set the level of the style: 

Vast are the Glories, Caesar, thou has won, 
To make whose Triumphs up, the World's undone: 
The Indians from the Eastern parts remote. 
To thee the Treasure of their Shrines devote : 
Whole Trees of Coral, which they div'd for low. 
That in the walks of Neptune's Palace grow. 
With Tritons trumpeting on ev'ry bough; 
Pearls which the morning eyes of Thetis pay. 
When her cool'd Lover bolts through waves away; 
And Diamonds that the Sun each morning sheds. 
Driving his Chariot o're their sooty heads. 

And from this level he drops only at rare intervals. Figures 
of speech are frequent: Augustus is compared to a lion five 
times; Caesario speaking of the rescue of the heroine from 
Augustus says (p. 35) : 

I from the den of an old Beast of prey 
Snatch'd, while abroad he did for forage stray. 
By this he is retiun'd, and finds her gone; 
By this the Groves resound, and Forests groan. 

The figures are often sustained through many lines as in 
the following, where Caesario addresses his friend (p. 12): 

Revenge and Friendship in my bosom clash'd. 
Like Mountain billows, each the other dash'd; 
Still my uncertain soul each Tempest blinds 
Like a dark vessel driv'n by Polar winds: 
But you Uke a propitious God arise. 
On the blue Ocean shine the Azure Skies, 
And now the beaten mind at Anchor Ues. 



102 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Marcellus replies: 

Methinks I wish that I had never known 
Vertue like yours ; so high, that mine is none : 
You as some vast Hill touching Heav'n appear; 
I at your feet like a poor Valley near: 
Down from your cloudy top refreshings flow, 
Fast bounteous rills, that water me below: 
Valleys; but Vapours can to Heav'n return. 
And I with sighs your faUing favours mourn. 

And he delights in balancing his figures; thus Caesario 

upbraids Gloriana:^ 

I came to seek for painted vertue here. 
For one exceeding false, exceeding fair; 
For one whose breast shone hke a Silver cloud. 
But did a heart compos'd of Thunder shrowd; 
For one more weeping than the face of Nile, 
Whose Uquid Chrystal hides the Crocodile; 
For one who like a God from Heav'n did pour 
Rich rain, but lust was in the golden showr; 
For one who Uke Pandora beauteous flew. 
But a long train of curses with her drew; 
For one who like a Rock of Diamonds stood. 
But hemm'd with death, and universal flood. 

At times the figures become grotesque as in the following 

(p. 2): 

And Crassus, who like some large Oak had stood 
The brush of warring winds, and showrs of blood, 
His Army round him hke an underwood; 
These Martial Rangers root and branches tore, 
And on their Crests his trickhng heart strings wore. 

or again, Caesario speaking (p. 36) : 

All! Hell-hound, aU art thou resolv'd to have? 
But tast my heart, 'tis Royal, rich and good. 
Each drop's more worth than Tuns of Vulgar blood. 
Cannot th' exhausted shore for once suffice ? 
rie make it up with Rivers from their eyes; 
Tears will not make him drunk, the Slave repUes. 

1 P. 59. 



La Calprenede's Romances 103 

This is Lee at his worst; in Gloriana he rarely touches 
his best, and the play never achieved any marked popu- 
larity. If Lee had stopped here, Addison would never have 
said of him, "Among our modern English poets there is none 
who is better turned for tragedy than Lee." 

The Rival Queens^ 

For the material of his next play Lee turned to a subject 
treated by La Calprenede in Cassandra. Although written 
after Cassandra, Cleopatra had up to this time been most 
copied by the playwrights largely it may be supposed through 
Dryden's example. In the tremendous success, however, of 
Lee's The Rival Queens, brought out at the Theatre Royal in 
1677, Cassandra came into its own, and three other plays 
based on the main plot of this romance now followed in 
rapid succession. These were Bankes's Rival Kings, 1677, 
Pordage's Siege of Babylon, 1678, and Cooke's Love's Triumph 
1678.2 

*^i"The Rival Queens, Or The Death of Alexander The Great. Acted 
at the Theatre-Royal. By Their Majesties Servants. By Nat. Lee, Gent. 
London, Printed for James Magnes and Richard Bentley, at the Post-house in 
Russel-street in Covent Garden, near the Piazza's, 1677." Other editions 
used were those of 1677, 1684, 1690, 1694, 1699, 1702, 1704, 1768, 1785, 
1793, 1805, 1808, 1811, 1815, 1818, 1832. Unless otherwise specified the page 
references are to the first edition, 1677. 

' Another play, Crowne's Darius King of Persia (pub. 1688), is on the 
same subject. There are many speeches that conform almost word for word 
to passages in Cassandra. In every case, however, where this is true both 
the play and the romance follow Curtius (cf. University of Nevada Studies, II, 
3, p. 46). Crowne assigns as his source Curtius. He apologizes for leaving 
out Statira and her two daughters, "well known to the World, whose misfor- 
times would have probably mov'd more compassion, than those of a strange 
Lady, obscurely descended from my Fancy, which I have introduc'd in their 
stead." And he gives as his reason for the omission: "But when I first con- 
triv'd and writ this Play, my Judgment was overborn by some I much regard; 
who told me, those Princesses had been already seen very often, their Beauties 
would now seem stale, and a new Face be more agreeable." The reference 
here probably is to the presentation of the princesses by Lee, Bankes, and 
Pordage. Cf. dedicatory epistle, 1688 edition: "I find him in Curtius, a 
prince of valoxir, clemency, justice, and great moral virtues," etc., referring 
to Darius. 



104 Herbert Wynford Hill 

In the scintillating array of heroic plays of this period 
The Rival Queens was easily the brightest jewel; for one 
hundred and fifty years its radiance dazzled the eyes of 
admiring audiences. Colly Gibber said of it in his auto- 
biography: "There was no one tragedy for many years 
more in favour with the town than Alexander," but ascribes 
the success of the play to the merit of the actors/ espe- 
cially to Betterton whom he praises highly. ^ 

•'For the plot," Langbaine writes, "as far as the author 
has follow'd History, Consult Arrian; Q. Curtius; Plutarch' s 
Life of Alexander; Justin lib. 11, 12. Diodorus Siculus, lib. 
17 and 18. Josephus lib. 11. cap. 8." These references are 
to historical accounts of some of the incidents of the play. 
An examination of these shows that Lee was indebted to 
only one of the accounts, that of Plutarch. Sidney Lee 
(D. of N.B.) says, "De La Calprenede's novel Cassandre 
seems to have suggested some of the scenes." It did — or 
to be exact — Sir Charles Cotterell's translation furnished 
some suggestions for the principal plot and the outline for 
the subplot together with some of the phrasing. 

The main plot recounts Alexander's tribulations as the 
husband of two wives, Statira and Roxana, tells briefly of his 
tyrannical punishment of those who in any way opposed him, 

»"To what must we impute this its command of public admiration?" 
he asks. "Not to its intrinsic merit surely, if it swarms with passages like 
this I have shown you. If this passage has merit, let us see what figure it 
would make upon canvass — what sort of picture would rise from it. If 
Le Brun who was famous for painting the battles of this hero, had seen this 
lofty description, what one image could he have possibly taken from it ? In 
what colors would he have shown us ' glory perched upon a beaver ' ? How 
would he have drawn 'fortune trembUng'? Or, indeed, what use could he 
have made of 'pale fates,' or immortals riding upon billows, with this bluster- 
ing god of his own making at the head of them ? Where then must have lain 
the charm that since made the pubhc so partial to this tragedy? Why, 
plainly in the grace and harmony of the actor's utterance." 

2 In expression of his contempt for the play he wrote a burlesque called 
The Rival Queans with the Humours of Alexander the Great, a Comical Tragedy, 
a one-act play performed on June 29, 1710. This is wholly lacking in merit 
and pointless. 



La Calprenede's Romances 105 

and ends with his death and that of Statira. This is not 
at all the story as handled by La Calprenede. In Cassandra, 
Oroondates is the hero ; it is through a bit of treachery that 
Statira is married to Alexander; both she and Roxana are 
in love with Oroondates, not with Alexander. Lee, by omit- 
ting Oroondates, shifts the affection of the two women to 
Alexander thus greatly heightening the jealousy between the 
two. In the romance Statira is not killed — a slave being 
killed in her place. It would seem that Lee followed history 
rather than La Calprenede, and yet there are certain indi- 
cations which will be taken up shortly pointing to the influ- 
ence of Cassandra. In the subplot the influence is at once 
apparent. Lysimachus is in love with Parisatis who is 
promised by Alexander to Hephestion. Lysimachus fights 
with his rival and for this and his temerity in frankly claim- 
ing Parisatis against the wishes of Alexander he is condemned 
to fight in single combat with a lion. In this combat he is 
successful, and for his bravery he is pardoned and given an 
equal chance for Parisatis. Hephestion fortunately dies 
and Lysimachus claims the lady of his heart's desire. This 
is practically the story as given by La Calprenede, and with 
the exception of the lion episode is not found in history. 
A few parallels will show how closely Lee follows his source, 
the romance. 

Lysimachus' request of King Alexander for Parisatis is 
a fairly close rendering of the original. 

The Rival Queens, II, p. 20 Cassandra, p. 136 

Lysimachus opens his speech with 

E're you remove be pleas'd, I come, Sir, to beg of your 
dread Sir, to hear A Prince Majesty, what a Prince who 
ally'd to you by Blood. hath the honour to be of your 

blood hopes he may obtain. 



108 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



The Rival Queens 
Lysimachus continues his 

I never fail'd to obey your 

Majesty, 
Whilst you commanded what 

was in my power, 
Nor cou'd Hephestion fly more 

swift to serve, 
When you conomanded us to 

storm a Town, 
Or fetch a Standard from the 

Enemy, 
But when you charge me not 

to love the Princess, 
I must confess, I disobey you, 

as 
I wou'd the Gods themselves, 

should they command. 

Alexander replies: 

In the mean time think not 

of Parisatis: 
For if thou dost, by Jupiter 

Ammon, 
By my own Head, and by King 

Philip's Soul, 
I'le not respect that Blood of 

mine thou shar'st, 
But use thee as the vilest 

Macedonian. 



Cassandra 

argument : 

I never failed of my obe- 
dience to your Majesty, while 
you required no other proofs 
of it, but such as were within 
my power; and Hephestion 
never obeyed you more readily 
than I, whenso're you com- 
manded us to assault a wall, 
or charge into a Battalion; 
when you forbad me to love 
Parisatis, I confess I disobeyed 
you, as I should have done the 
Gods themselves, if they had 
imposed the same conunand 
upon me. 



In the mean time I forbid 
you .... ever to look upon 
Parisatis; and I protest to you 
by Jupiter Hammon, and by 
the soul of King Philip, that if 
you disobey what I command, 
by all the authority I have over 
you, I will have no respect at 
all unto your birth, but will 
submit you to the severity of 
our Laws, as the meanest 
Macedonian. 

At the point where Alexander commands the guards to 
take Lysimachus prisoner, Lee follows La Calprenede 
closely. If he did not write with the romance before him, 
he certainly carried to the writing a vivid recollection of it, 
as the following parallels will indicate. 



La Calprenede's Romances 



107 



Cassandra, p. 141 
.... commanding me to be 
taken alive .... he said thus. 
.... The dignity of all Kings 
is concerned in my affront. 
.... I will find out punish- 
ments which shall be able to 
tame this rage 

Lysimachus is a Lyon, but 
we will use him like a Lyon, 
and shall perchance be able to 
quench this fierceness. 

After these words he com- 
manded I should be carried to 
the dungeon .... (and later 
p. 142) 

Lysimachus (saies he) braves 
us hke a Lion; but we have 
tamed both Lions and Ele- 
phants, and will make his grave 
in the bellies of those beasts he 
imitates. 

In the messenger scene, where Clyius and Hephestion 
tell of the combat between Lysimachus and the lion, Lee 
follows La Calprenede very closely: 



The Rival Queens, p. 25 
Alexander. I charge you, kill 

him not, take him ahve; 
The dignity of Kings is now 

concern'd. 
And I will find a way to tame 

this Beast. 



Sure we, at last, shall conquer 

this fierce Lion: 
Hence from my sight, and bear 

him to a Dungeon: 
Perdiccas give this Lion to a 

Lion. 



The Rival Queens, p. 45 
Heph. Unarm'd all but his 

hands, on which he wore 
A pair of Gauntlets; such was 

his desire, 
To shew in death the difference 

betwixt 
The bloud of the Aeacides, and 

common men. 
Clytus. At last the door of an 

old Lyons den 



Cassandra, p. 143 

.... let one of your Guards 
lend me but his Gantlets " . . . . 
"my intention but onely to give 
you .... some knowledge of 
the difference there is between 
Lysimachus and ordinary per- 
sons 

.... The door of a Uttle 
room where he was kept, being 



108 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



The Rival Queens 
Being drawn up, the horrid 

Beast appear'd: 
Heph. When we arriv'd, just 

as the vahant Prince 
Cry'd out, O Parisatis take my 

hfe, 
Clytus. Then walking forward, 

the large Beast descry'd 
His prey, and with a roar that 

made us pale. 
Flew fiercely on him; but the 

active Prince \ 

Starting aside, avoided his first 

shock. 
With a slight hurt, and as the 

Lyon turn'd, 
Thrust Gauntlet, arm and all 

into his throat, 
And with Herculean force tore 

forth by th' roots 
The foaming bloudy tongue; 

and while the Savage, 
Faint with that loss, sunk to 

the blushing Earth 
To plough it with his teeth, 

yon conqu'ring Souldier 
Leap'd on his back, and dash'd 

his skull to pieces. 



Cassandra 
drawn up, that fierce creature 
no sooner saw the light, but 
he came out of his Den, 

Parisatis! (cryed I) receive 
this noble sacrifice 

1 had not made an end of 
these words when the Lyon 
flew at me so fiercely, and so 
suddenly, that I had much ado 
to avoid the first encounter; 



but seeing his jaws open and 
frothy with foam and blood, I 
chopp'd my hand suddenly into 
his throat; my Gauntlet de- 
fended me from his teeth 
.... I took him by the tongue 
.... I tore it out by the 
very roots: The Lyon lost his 
strength by the extremity of 
that pain, and discharging the 
rest of his rage against the 
Earth, which he dig'ed up with 
his teeth, and watred with his 
blood, he gave me the leisure to 
beat his skull in pieces with my 
Gauntlets. 

La Calprenede got the suggestion of this remarkable 
method of killing a lion from Justin^ whose account runs as 
follows : 



» Justinus: Historiae Philippicae. lib. XV. Cap. 3. Frotscher ed., 1827, 
The incident is barely referred to by Plutarch, Demetrius (Clough ed., V, 122) ; 



La Calprenede's Romances 109 

Quod adeo aegre Alexander tulit, ut eum abiici ferocissimo 
leoni juberet. Sed cum ad conspectum eius concitatus leo impetum 
fecisset, manum amiculo involutam Lysimachus in os leonis inuner- 
sit, abreptaque lingua, feram exanimavit. Quod cum nuntiatum 
regi esset, admiratio in satisf actionem cessit; careoremque eum 
propter constantiam tantae virtutis habuit. 

But there is no evidence that Lee consulted any other 
account than La Calprenede's. 

In the main plot there are a few points of resemblance 
which should be noted. 

Roxana's account of her falling in love with Alexander is 
taken partly from La Calprenede's account of Hermione's 
falling in love with Alexander and partly from La Calpre- 
nede's account of Roxana's first sight of Alexander. From 
neither source has Lee taken much of the phrasing, but the 
relationship is unmistakable. Hermione {Cassandra, 291) 
tells how she fell in love with Alexander. 

I heard his exploits recounted with admiration, and when they 
talk'd to me of the greatness of his courage, of that boiling, and 
generous ardour which made him rush headlong into the thickest 
of his Enemies, of his moderation in victory, of his gallant fashion, 
of his youth, and of the grace which accompanied all his actions, 
I felt my heart insensibly won. 

Roxana's account (The Rival Queens, p. 27) runs as 
follows : 

But when I heard of Alexander's Conquests, 
How with a handfull he had Millions slain, 
Spoiled all the East, their Queens his Captives made, 
Yet with what Chastity, and God-Uke temper 
He saw their Beauties, and with pity bow'd; 
Methought I hung upon my Father's lips. 

by Pausanias, i, 9, 5; by Pliny, H.N., viii, 21; by Valerius Maximus, ix, 3; 
by Seneca: de Ira, iii, 17; and by Q. Curtius, viii, 1. Curtius refers to 
Lysimachus' killing a lion single handed while hunting in Syria and scoffs at the 
story of the combat in the lion's den as a fable built upon the Syrian exploit. 
No one of these writers except Justin gives the details of the combat. 



110 Herbert Wynford Hill 

La Calprenede {Cassandra, 90) brings Roxana and Alex- 
ander together at a banquet given by her father celebrating 
his own defeat at the hands of Alexander; Roxana is one 
of thirty ladies chosen to wait on the table, and attracts 
Alexander's attention by her beauty. Lee's account {The 
Rival Queens, p. 27) is the same except that the number of 
the ladies waiting on the table is raised to fifty. 

In the omens foreshadowing Alexander's death Lee 
secured his material from Plutarch in part; but even here 
La Calprenede's influence was considerable. Plutarch lays 
much stress on the fact that Alexander was disturbed by the 
omens; La Calprenede stresses the fact that Alexander was 
not disturbed by them; and Lee follows La Calprenede. 
The presentation of one omen occurring in all three will 
illustrate this — the battle of the crows. Plutarch writes 
of Alexander being warned by soothsayers not to enter 
Babylon. 1 

Alexander however, took no thought of it, and went on, and 
when he came near the walls of the place, he saw a great many 
crows fighting with one another, some of whom fell down just by 
him. After this, being privately informed that Apollodorus, the 
governor of Babylon, had sacrificed, to know what would become 
of him, he sent for Pythagoras, the soothsayer, and on his admit- 
ting the thing, asked him, in what condition he found the victim; 
and when he told him the Uver was defective in its lobe, "A great 
presage indeed!" said Alexander. However, he offered Pythagoras 
no injury, but was sorry that he had neglected Nearchus' advice, 
and stayed for the most part outside the town, removing his tent 
from place to place, and sailing up and down the Euphrates. Besides 
this, he was disturbed by many other prodigies. 

After enumerating some of these, Plutarch proceeds: 

When once Alexander had given way to fears of supernatural 
influence, his mind grew so disturbed and so easily alarmed that, 
if the least unusual or extraordinary thing happened, he thought 
» Clough ed., IV, 250. 



La Calprenede's Romances 111 

it a prodigy or a presage, and his court was thronged with diviners 
and priests whose business was to sacrifice and purify and foretell 
the future. So miserable a thing is increduUty and contempt of 
divine power on the one hand, and so miserable, also, superstition 
on the other, which like water, where the level has been lowered, 
flowing in and never stopping, fills the mind with slavish fears 
and foUies, as now in Alexander's case. 

La Calprenede presents the incident as follows {Cas- 
sandra, 152): 

This reason made him hasten his Voyage, or rather the power 
of his destinies forced him in spite of presages, and the counsels 
of his friends. Being near the walls, a flock of crowes, after they 
had fought a great while before him fell some of them dead at his 
feet; but he mocked at that adventure, and told his Sooth-sayers, 
it was not able to daunt a gallant courage. He entred into that 
fatal Town, where he was received with great Pomp and mag- 
nificence. 

Lee's account in characteristic style runs thus: 

Perd. As Meleager, and my self in Field, 

Your Persian Horse about the Army wheel'd: 
We heard a noise, as of a rushing Wind, 
And a thick Storm the Eye of Day did bhnd: 
A croaking noise resounded through the air. 
We look'd, and saw big Ravens battUng there: 
Each Bird of Night appear'd himself a cloud. 
They met, and fought, and their Wounds rain'd black 
Blood. 

Alexander replies: 

Be witness for me, all ye Powers Divine, 
If ye be angry, 'tis no fault of mine; 
Therefore let Furies face me, with a Band 
From Hell, my Virtue shall not make a Stand; 
Though all the Curtains of the Skie be drawn. 
And the Stars wink, young Ammon shall go on.^ 

And in this decision he remains firm throughout the play. 

1 The Rival Queens, p. 19. 



112 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



In the account of the death of Statira, of Hephestion, and 
especially in that of Clytus, Lee faithfully renders Plutarch. 
When he wrote the account of the death of Alexander, 
however, he again fingered the pages of Cassandra. La 
Calprenede clearly follows Justin's account and Quintus 
Curtius' account of Alexander's death rather than Plutarch's; 
and, just as clearly, Lee follows La Calprenede rather than 
Justin or Curtius when introducing details not found in 
Plutarch. If Lee knew of Justin's or Curtius' accounts he 
evidently didn't take the trouble to look them up. One 
incident will sufficiently illustrate the chain of indebtedness, 
an incident not found in Plutarch, but occurring in Justin, 
and in Quintus Curtius, La Calprenede, and Lee. 



Justin, XII, 15 

Sexto die praeclusa 
voce, exemptum di- 
git© anulum Perdic- 
cae tradidit : quae 
res glisamicorum dis- 
sensionen sedavit. 



La Calprenede, Cas- 
sandra, p. 153 

and pulling a ring 
off from his finger 
he gave it to Perdic- 
cas commanding him 
to take care of his 
Burial, and to cause 
his body to be carried 
to the Temple of 
Jupiter Hammon: 

Perdiccas asked 
him last of all, when 
he desired to have 
those honours given 
him, which are due 
unto the Gods, and 
to those who like 
him, had gloriously 
acquired a place in 
the Heavens. When 
you (said he) are all 
happy, and in peace. 



Lee, The Rival 
Queens, p. 63 

Alex. Perdiccas, take 
this Ring, 

And see me laid in 
the Temple of 
Jupiter Ammon. 

Perd. When will 
you, sacred Sir, 
that we should give 

To your great mem- 
ory those Divine 
Honours, 

Which such exalted 
Virtue does de- 
serve ? 

Alex. When you 
are all most hap- 
py, and in peace. 



La Calprenede's Romances 113 

The relationship is unmistakable. La Calprenede followed 
Justin and Curtius, and Lee paraphrased La Calprenede.^ 

The style of The Rival Queens is distinctly heroic. Dry- 
den wrote of the play (in verses prefaced to the edition of 
1677): 

Such praise is yours, while you the Passions move, 

That 'tis no longer feign'd; 'tis real Love: 

Where Nature Triumphs over wretched Art; 

We only warm the Head, but you the Heart: 

Always you warm! and if the rising Year, 

As in hot Regions, bring the Sun too near, 

'Tis but to make your Fragrant Spices blow, 

Which in our colder Climates will not grow. 

They only think you animate your Theme 

With too much Fire who are themselves all Phle'me; 

Prizes wou'd be for Lags of slowest pace. 

Were Cripples made the Judges of the Race. 

Despise those Drones, who praise while they accuse 

The too much vigor of your youthful Muse: 

That humble Stile which they their Virtue make, 

Is in your pow'r; you need but stoop and take. 

Your beauteous Images must be allow' d 

By all, but some, vile Poets of the Crowd: 

But how shou'd any Sign-post dawber know 

The worth of Titian, or of Angela ? 

Hard Features ev'ry Bungler can command; 

To draw true Beauty shews a Master's Hand. 

The line 

The too much vigor of your Youthful Muse 
sums up tersely and accurately the merits and deficiencies of 
Lee's style. 

Lee indulges in few descriptions. The incomparable 
Statira is not sketched more fully than in such phrases as 

1 Curtius' account is even closer to that of La Calprenede (Book X) : 
"He took his ring off his finger, and gave it to Perdiccas, enjoining him to 

convey his body to Hammon Perdiccas then desiring to know, when 

he would have his divine honours paid him ? he reply'd. When they them- 
selves were happy." — Digby's tr. (1747), Vol. II, p. 186. 



114 Herbert Wynford Hill 

•'the Star that guides my life" spoken by Alexander who has 

just described her as 

all softness, 
All melting, mild, and calm as a rock'd Infant.^ 
There is no description of natural scenery although on 
one occasion Alexander longs for the country. 

Thus Palaces in prospect barr the Eye, 
Which pleas'd, and free, wou'd o're the Cottage fly; 
O're flow'ry Lands to the gay distant Side. 
Farewell then Empire, and the Racks of Love; 
By all the Gods, I will to wilds remove, 
Stretch'd like a Sylvan God on Grass lye down, 
And quite forget that e're I wore a crown.^ 
The heroic feature of Lee's style consists largely in simple 
exaggeration. Sometimes the exaggeration has a point, as 
where Cassander purposely exaggerates Alexander's glory: 

All Nations bow their heads with homage down, 

And kiss the Feet of this exalted Man; 

The Name, the Shout, the Blast from every Mouth 

Is Alexander, Alexander bursts 

Your Cheeks, and with a crack so loud 

It drown's the Voice of Heaven, etc' 

And again in Alexander's boasting where Lee is following the 
precedent set by Artaban, Alamanzor, and other mighty 
heroes : 

When glory, hke the dazzhng Eagle, stood 
Perch'd on my Bever in the Granick Flood. 
When Fortun's self my Standard trembling bore 
And the pale Fates stood frighted on the Shore 
When the Immortals on the Billows rode, 
And I my self appear'd the leading God.* 

Again : 

Yes, I will shake this Cupid from my arms. 
If all the rages of the Earth can fright him; 
Drown him in the deep bowl of Hercules; 

1 p. 24. 2 P. 26. 3 p. 6. * p. 18. 



La Calprenede's Romances 115 

Make the World drunk, and then Uke Aeolus, 

When he gave passage to the struggUng winds, 

rie strike my Spear into the reeUng Globe 

To let it bloud; set Babylon in a blaze. 

And drive this God of flames with more consuming fire.* 

Alexander's physical condition where he lies racked by 
fever at the point of death might account for his conception 
of the Horses of the Sun: 

.... hot, their Mangers full of coals. 
Their Mains are flakes of Lightning, curls of Fire, 
And their red Tails hke Meteors whisk about.^ 

But the torments of the tender passion hardly save such 

passages as the following: 

Trembhng, and horrour, pierce me cold as Ice. 
Is she not weU ? what, none, none answer me ? 
Or is it worse ? Keep down ye rising Sighs, 
And murmur in the hollow of my Breast: 
Run to my Heart, and gather more sad Wind; 
That when the voice of Fate shall call you forth, 
Ye may, at one rush, from the Seat of Life, 
Blow the Blood out, and burst me like a Bladder.^ 

Fortunately excesses of this sort are not numerous; other- 
wise we should be tempted to agree with Lord Rochester in 
classing Lee " a hot-brained fustian fool"; or to deplore with 
Granville* ''how little notice is taken of the noble and sub- 
lime thoughts and expressions of Mr. Dryden and what ap- 
plause is given to the rants and fustian of Mr. Lee." How- 
ever, it must be admitted that Lee possesses certain elements 
of strength : his heroics are exuberant and spontaneous, and 
there is a certain point to even his wildest flights. It is far 
superior to his preceding plays: it possesses more restraint, 
the figures are better conceived and more fittingly applied, and 
there is less of the grotesque. Compared with the next play 
to be considered, The Rival Queens is a paragon of excellence. 

»P. 35. J p. 63. 3 p. 22 (Alexander speaking). « Preface to Feroic Lo»e, 1698. 



116 Herbert Wynford Hill 

The Siege of Babylon} 
On November 2, 1677, another play dealing with the 
fortunes of the incomparable Statira was licensed, and not 
long after the performance of Lee's Rival Queens at the 
Theatre Royal, was presented at the Duke's Theatre. This 
play, The Siege of Babylon,^ by Samuel Pordage, opens the 
story of Statira where Lee closes it. In the epilogue to 
The Siege of Babylon Statira says, 

At one House, I am, by Roxana, slain, 

But see, at this, I am alive again. 

And spite, of all her cruelty, and rage, 

I Live, am Queen, and Triumph, on the Stage. 

The unscrupulous Roxana holds Statira captive in Babylon, 
and the plot is concerned with her rescue by the hero Oroon- 
dates and his friends. The play opens with a duel between 
Lysimachus and Ptolomey for the hand of Parisatis, a modi- 
fication of the Lysimachus-Hephestion duel of the romance.' 
Oroondates, the hero of the play as of the romance, scales 
the wall of Babylon single handed and is captured. He is 
brought before Roxana, who confesses her love for him. 
He rejects her. She attempts to kill him but is so overcome 
by his presence that she cannot strike the blow.* She now 

1 The title-page of the first and only edition reads, "The Siege of Baby- 
lon As it is Acted at the Dxikes Theatre. Written by Samuel Pordage, of 
Lincoln's-Inn, Esq; Author of the Tragedy of Herod and Mariamne. 

Non tibi plus placeas, quia multis forte placebis: 

Id specta potius, qualibus ipse places. — -Manei. de Quat. Virt. 

Licensed, Nov. 2. 1677. Roger L'Estrange. London, Printed for Rich- 
ard Tonson, at his shop imder Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn-Lane, 
MDCLXXVIII." 

2 PubUshed 1678. The British Museum catalogue lists but the one edition. 

3 Cf. also The Rival Queens and The Rival Kings. 

* The hero of Cassandra has a presence so sublime that (cf. p. 551) when 
bound and in prison the fire in his eyes and marks of divinity on his face dis- 
may the arm lifted against him so that it sinks without effect. In Cleopatra, 
Part II, p. 295, Caesario tells how his remarkable beauty causes the weapon 
of a furious woman to fall from her hand as she is on the point of killing him. 



La Calprenede's Romances 117 

plots the death of Statira; and the details lead up to the 
chief scene in the play. This centers around a four-cornered 
situation, where Roxana threatens Statira with death; and 
Perdiccas threatens Oroondates, each being deterred by the 
threat of the other. Statira and Parisatis are put through 
a mock execution. Perdiccas, thinking Statira dead, releases 
the hero and helps him win the city. Roxana stabs herself, 
Perdiccas goes off to the wars, and Oroondates marries 
Statira. Such in brief is the main plot of the play. In all 
essential details it is the plot of the romance. 

Pordage attempted to crowd into the play two full- 
fledged duplicating plots from Cassandra — the Lysimachus- 
Parisatis plot and the Oroondates-Thalestris plot. Neither 
Lee nor Bankes succeeded in handling one duplicating plot — 
the Lysimachus-Parisatis plot — to much advantage; and 
Pordage's failure in attempting two is not to be wondered at. 
These subplots are so faintly sketched that a reader un- 
familiar with Cassandra would have great difiiculty in follow- 
ing their hazy wanderings through the play. Their appear- 
ance at irregular intervals only furnishes unnecessary 
comphcations and confusion. The words of M.C. to his 
most Honoured Friend prefaced to "Four New Playes" by 
Wm. KiUigrew (1666) might be very well applied to the 
plot of Pordage's play: 

The whole Intrigue a Labyrinth, which you 
Through all the windings furnish with a Clue, 
Bj'^ which the wandring Traveller is Ledde 
Through wayes past finding out but by your Thred 
The Plot and Scenes wrapt up in such disguise 
As when a fine Cloud darkens the bright skies. 

Pordage has not to any considerable extent borrowed the 
phrasing of La Calprenede, although at times he paraphrases 
rather closely. The following parallel extracts from the 



118 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



scene where the hero and heroine are threatened with death 
by their rivals will illustrate the nature of his indebtedness: 



The Siege of Babylon 

Act III, p. 32 

Roxa. Ingrateful as thou art, 

thou shalt not dye 
Thy Life is safe enough, whilst 

I am by; 
For with my own, I will thy 

Life defend, 
And though thou hatest me, 

shew my self thy Friend. 
Oron. Since to Statira you 'ave 

such maUce shown. 
You are to me most black, and 

odious grown: 
Ev'n Perdiccas, I love much 

more, than thee. 
And pardon, all his cruelties, to 

me, 
Because his care, and tender- 
ness I 'ave seen. 
In snatching, from thy Murth- 

'rous hands, my Queen, 
When you, with so much wrath, 

and Rudeness prest. 
That dreadful JaveUn, 'gainst 

her tender Breast. 



Cassandra 
P. 554 
Thou shalt not die, (said 
she) [i.e. Roxana] and as un- 
grateful as thou art, I'le defend 
thy Ufe as carefully as mine 
own. I give thee but httle 
thanks for that care, (repUed 
Oroondates) and all the suc- 
cour I can receive from thee, 
cannot but be very odious to 
me, after having seen thee 
present that Javelin against the 
breast of my Princess: I love 
Perdiccas a great deal better, 
for all he is so much my Enemy; 
and for his tenderness of my 
Queen, I easily pardon all his 
cruelty toward me; .... 



The style of The Siege of Babylon does not differ essen- 
tially from that of the earlier play founded on Cleopatra; 
it is simple rather than ornate, and direct rather than 
roundabout. There is no excess of figures of speech. Where 
figures are introduced, however, they are generally sustained 
through several lines as in the following passages, both 
drawn from the sea: 



La Calprenede's Romances 119 

Madame, how like the Sea, when cahn, you show. 
So soft your aspect, and so smooth, your brow; 
But once, this day, when you grew rough in Arms, 
You seem'd to me, Uke the Wild Seas, in Storms. 
The quiet Sea, does some soft pleasure yield, 
But its great power, in Tempests is beheld. 
His dreadful majesty, then best appears. 
When he shoots up his Waves, to the bright Stars 
You are more noble, in your dreadful Arms. 
'Twas that fierce bravery, which I saw in you. 
That only could, my untam'd Heart, subdue.^ 

and the followdng: 

When the Sea's calm, the Air Serene, and clear, 

The Ship before the Wind, each Buoy can steer. 

But when the Winds, roar in their shatter'd shroudes. 

When Heaven's bright face, grows terrible, with cloudes 

And angry Seas, to moving Mountaines grow. 

The Pilot then his skill, and Art does show 

'Tis now, Cassander, you must show your skill, 

And try, if you can save, as well as kill. 

Now you must shew, your courage, and your care. 

To every Guard, and every Watch repare : 

Statira was belov'd, and you will see 

Th' enraged Babylonians Mutiny: 

They will revenge her Death, on you, and me. 

If us, from threatning stormes, you now can save. 

You shall enjoy, the Fortune, of the Brave.^ 

The Rival Kings^ 
In the dedicatory preface to The Rival Kings Bankes 
makes capital of his indebtedness to La Calprenede. 

> Act I, scene 3, p. 15. 2 Act IV, p. 46. 

' Written by John Bankes, 1677. The title-page of the first edition reads: 
"The Rival Kings: or the Loves of Oroondates and Statira A Tragedy. 
Acted at the Theater-Royal. Written by Mr. Banltes. 
Divesne Prisco natus ab Inacho, 
Nil interest, au Pauper, & Laflma 
De gente sub dio moreris, 

Victima nil miserantis Orci. — Horat. Lib. ii. Ode 3. 
London, Printed for L. C. in Goat Court on Ludgate Hill, 1677." 

The play is dedicated in high-flown language to the Right Honoiu-able 
The Lady Katherine Herbert. Unless otherwise specified all page references 
are to this edition. The British Museum catalogue lists only this one edition. 



120 Herbert Wynford Hill 

I bring [he writes] in my behalf too the Conqueror of the World, 
to lay before your feet, the greatest Man that ever was, who, were 
he living, wou'd become a Rival to his dear Ephestion, and behold 
in your Person, as well the sweet, serene, and obliging innocence 
of Parisatis, as the more lofty and Imperial Graces of his Statira. 
This great Man, Madam, the Author of the famous Cassandra 
thought never to be equall'd, but in the person of the most exquisite 
of Lovers, him therefore he has raised in the Character of Oroon- 
dates, to be a Rival to the mighty Alexander in the Romance, and 
here I have brought him to be so in you, and the rather, because 
I prefer him to the hkeness of the young, hopeful, and gallant 
Partner of your self, which I pray he may never cease to be, but 
early anticipate the extraordinary expectations of Mankind, and 
crown you with greater happiness then Fame and Fancy have 
yet created in the minds of the most Heroick Lovers. This, and 
whatever increases your fehcity shall be the perpetual wishes of, 
Madame, 

Your most Humble and Obedient Servant 

John Bankes 

In the prologue Bankes again refers to Cassandra: 

[The author] 

Bids me remember ere you be displeas'd 

How with Cassandra's fam'd Romance ye were pleas'd 

How many nights 't has kept you long awake 

Nay and have wept for Oroondates sake. 

It seems fairly evident that Bankes counted that the 
popularity of the romance would help create an interest 
in his play. So far as I know, all critics have accepted 
Bankes's statement of the case without further question. 
Langbaine hints vaguely that Bankes may have consulted 
Curtius and Justin,^ although there is not the slightest 
basis for any such conclusion. But no one appears to have 
recognized any indebtedness to Lee. Bankes in his epilogue 

' Langbaine's words are: "The play is founded chiefly on Cassandra a 
famed Romance in FoL As to what concerns Alexander, I refer you to Curtius 
and Justin." 



La Calprenede's Romances 121 

evidently anticipated that such indebtedness would be 
recognized and claims that his play was written a year before 
Lee's: 

But justly tax the Poets want of sence. 
That after your lov'd Alexander dare^ 
Bring this with all your likings to compare, 
A Play with scenes and Acting so admir'd 
As if the Souls they play'd had them inspir'd. 
So 'tis with her that has an ugly face, 
Proud of false charmes, and her affected grace, 
Sits by some cry'd up Beauty of the Town, 
And imitates each glance that's not her own. 
And when some Gallant from the Pit doth bow, 
how she snatches it and court'sies low! 
The careless Beauty then sits by the while. 
Kills with a frown and raises with a smile; — 
Yet this excuse upon the Authors score, 
This though come last, was writ a year before. 

a statement which contradicts Sidney Lee's explanation that 
"he was tempted by the success of Lee's Rival Queens to 
write a similar tragedy in verse, entitled Rival Kings." 
There are, however, some striking resemblances between 
the two plays, resemblances of such a nature that they could 
hardly result from coincidence. 

Bankes opens the play with the presentation of the dis- 
satisfaction among Alexander's generals at his treatment of 
certain of their comrades, a number of whom he has killed 
in fits of ungovernable rage. The names of these, the order 
of the presentation, and the method of handling the scene 
are the same as in Lee's account. This in itself would not be 
convincing proof as both Plutarch and La Calprenede give 
most of the material; but in two trifling details is found 
evidence of Bankes's familiarity with Lee's play. The 
first of these is Cassandra's account of how Alexander 

I Lee's play was commonly known by its second title. Alexander the Great. 



122 



Herbert Wtnford Hill 



"struck me on the Face" the phrasing being identical in 
the two plays. 

The second is the detail that Parmenio was stabbed in his 
own garden or orchard. This detail of the place is not given 
by Plutarch or La Calprenede but was added by Lee as an 
effective touch, and enlarged upon by Bankes, who makes 
a good deal of the fact that Parmenio was thus treasonably 
slain in his own garden. At the close of the play, in 
Alexander's death scene, Bankes imitates Lee in giving to 
Alexander delirious visions of battle. The phrasing is not 
the same, but the resemblance is unmistakable.^ 



The Rival Queens, p. 63 

Sound, sound, keep your Ranks 

close, ay now they come; 

the brave dinn, the noble 
clank of Arms! 

Charge, Charge apace, and let 
the Phalanx move. 

Darius comes, — ha! let me in, 
none dare 

To cross my fury; — Philotas 
is unhors'd; Ay 'tis Darius, 

1 see, I know him by the spark- 
ling Plumes, 

And his Gold Chariot drawn 

by ten white Horses: 
But like a Tempest thus I pour 

upon him. — 
He bleeds, with that last blow 

I brought him down 
He tumbles, take him, snatch 

the Imperial Crown. 
They fly, they fly,— foUow, 

follow, — Victoria, Victoria, 
Victoria, — let me sleep. 

1 The speech was biirlesqued by Durfey in The Richmond ^Heiress; cf. 
below, p. 158. 



The Rival Kings, p. 50 

See, see the Battailes Joyn- 

Beat, beat the Drumes, 

Bucephalus inrag'd he 

Champs and foames; 

Darius with his hooked 

Charriots comes. 

Wheres old Parmenio? 

Let more Trumpets sound; 

How his proud horse does 
beat the fearful ground! 

Haste, haste — Ephestion's rout- 
ed in the wing, — 

Now, now they have inclos'd 
him in a Ring — 

Heark how they shout and clap 
their hands for joy. 

The Gods have ravish'd 
my beloved Boy! 



La Calprenede's Romances 123 

In other places throughout the play there are echoes from 
Lee as, for instance, the following: 

The Rival Kings, p. 43 The Rival Queens, p. 49 

Alex. The hand that from my Alex. When from my reins the 

Bosom pui'd a Dart JaveUn's head was cut, .... 

Ne're felt me tremble with the Did I tremble? 

sudden smart; 

That Bankes rather than Lee was the borrower seems 
perfectly clear. There is no evidence that Lee saw Bankes's 
play before writing his own, whereas Bankes admits a 
knowledge of Lee's before he published his own. Aside from 
this, however, there is further evidence pointing to the same 
conclusion. His assignment of the chief role to Alexander 
was a blunder due to Lee's influence. A brief synopsis of 
the plots will help to establish this point. In La Cal- 
prenede's romance, Oroondates, the hero, in a night attack 
on the Persians invades the tent of Statira, daughter of 
Darius, and falls desperately in love with her at sight. 
Later he goes in disguise to the Persian court and wins her 
favor. She is, however, deceived by a rival into believing 
him false, and marries Alexander. Disguised as a gardener, 
Oroondates visits Statira now the wife of Alexander and is 
spurned. He rescues Alexander from drowning, and later 
resists the temptation to kill him when easy opportunity 
offers. Banished from Statira's presence he languishes 
in sickness for two months; then setting out to kill Alex- 
ander he hears that his rival is dead and that Statira has 
been executed. The romance from here on is concerned 
with the rescue of Statira who, it later appears, is still living. 

Here it would seem is abundant material for an exciting 
play. This is what Bankes did with it: 

Alexander having conquered Persia falls in love with the 
daughter of the ruler, but is scorned by her, she being in love 



124 Herbert Wynford Hill 

with Oroondates. Oroondates visits Statira and is dis- 
covered by Alexander, who puts him under guard, but later 
generously pardons him and restores him his freedom and 
kingdom. Alexander further invites him to attend his 
wedding with Statira on the morrow. Before the morrow, 
however, Alexander is poisoned and Oroondates gets Statira. 
The part of Oroondates is purely a filling in part; he does 
absolutely nothing except wait around for the time when 
the heroine is to be awarded. Alexander holds the center 
of the stage from the beginning to the close. He is drawn 
elaborately in shifting moods: now controlled by fiery love, 
now by impetuous, ungovernable fits of temper. He is 
presented as noble and forgiving and above taking imfair 
advantage of a rival. The whole of the last act is concerned 
with his death, and the play closes not with a prophecy of 
happiness for Oroondates but of revenge for the death of 
Alexander. 

About the only resemblance between the plots of the play 
and the romance is in the central situation. Alexander is in 
love with Statira, who is in love with Oroondates, and even 
this requires modification, for in the romance Statira is 
married to Alexander and faithful to him until death. How 
a dramatist who was familiar with Cassandra could overlook 
such dramatic scenes as Oroondates coming upon Statira 
asleep, or disguised as a gardener, or hanging over the sleep- 
ing Alexander sword in hand, is difficult to conceive. Evi- 
dently he was dazzled by the success of the play of his 
contemporary. If he did not write the play under Lee's 
inspiration he certainly vigorously revised it after Lee's 
play came out. 

In the subplot as well there is indication of Lee's influence ; 
Bankes imitates Lee in making Parisatis in love with 
Lysimachus; in Cassandra she prefers Hephestion, and 



La Calprenede's Romances 125 

remains faithful to him until he dies of a surfeit. Bankes 
is original in his account of the rescue of Parisatis from the 
devouring flames and in making Hephestion die at the hands 
of Lysimachus. It is interesting to note that neither Lee 
nor Bankes makes effective use of the subplot. In The 
Rival Queens it has little bearing on the principal plot, but 
rather distracts attention; in The Rival Kings although 
it is a duplicating plot it overshadows the principal plot; 
Lysimachus is more of a hero than Oroondates. Although 
both adopted La Calprenede's machinery, neither knew how 
to manage it. 

Bankes's style is that of one who has given his nights and 
days to the reading of contemporary heroic plays like Lee's 
rather than of La Calprenede's romances. He outdoes Lee 
in bombast and fustian, but it is with great effort. In the 
dedicatory preface to the Right Honourable The Lady 
Katherine Herbert he complains: 

How hard is it then for a young Writer to please this delicate 
Age, wherein every year the Wits study the fashion of Language to 
refine, and alter it, as they do their Cloathes; and true it is, that 
'tis another thing to write the sence and speeches of Heroes that 
are dead, and make 'em speak as we please, govern'd by our fancy, 
then it is to reach the minds of those illustrious Persons that 
Poetry is fore'd to choose to be above its judges, the Patrons of 
Wit. 

A few specimens of his up-to-date garments will give a 
sufficiently accurate idea of their cut and finish. The costume 
flashes and sparkles with tinsel scintillations: the gorgeous 
splendor of the sun, the glitter of stars, the gleam of gems and 
gold, the sparkling flashing brilliance of the light upon the 
waters dazzles the sight. 

Where'er Alexander comes "he fills the Skye with light," 
"clad in Armour made of shining Gold," he shoots "like a 



126 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Star" into a town, or "like a flaming honour o're the World 
'e Darts," and "like a flaming Beacon he does fright Tame 
Nations." 

Parisatis is described as: 

Some dazzling Constellation from the Skye! 
Sure 'tis the rich Vermillion that does grace 
The evening Sun sent t' adorn this place ,^ 

She out-dazzles flames ; as in the scene where Lysimachus 
rescues her: 

Where I beheld this Goddess on the floor. 
Yielding to flames, that did her eyes adore 
In a dark swoond, and yet her form so bright 
Her glorious beauty dazzl'd all the light. 
I took this sacred burthen in one arm. 
And with the other scattered every harm; 
The Fire recoil'd, and hung upon the wall, 
Bowing its conquer'd head, and down did fall: 
Like the bright Taper, it did soon decay, 
That lost its splendor at the sight of day.^ 

and again: 

Her soul appears all glorious as her face, 
A shining Jewel in a Chrystal case.^ 

The sort of pathetic fallacy included in the next to the 
last passage quoted is thoroughly characteristic of Bankes's 
style; the passage first quoted describing Parisatis continues :^ 

Heark, how the Air with Gentle murmur steals. 
To catch the Odour on her Lips, that dwells, 
More sweet than Breath, sent from the CousUps Bed, 
Or fragrant Banks with purple Violets spred.^ 

» P. 20, beginning of Act III. 

2 P. 4. 

3 Act III, p. 24. 
« P. 20. 

^ Cf. Twelfth Night, opening lines. 



La Calprenede's Romances 127 

and a little farther on: 

Look back, beauteous daughter of the spring, 
Whose divine presence, whiles these walks she treads 
Makes chearful Birds with welcome Carrols sing. 
And drooping flowers hold up their grateful heads. 

Love's Triumph^ 

In 1678, Oroondates and Statira were forced again from 

the peaceful shades of their happy retirement to throw 

themselves at the princely feet of Her Highness The Most 

Illustrious Mary Princess of Orange.^ The play thus 

1 "Loves Triumph or The Royal Union: A Tragedy. Written By Edward 
Cooke Esq; And Dedicated To Her Highness The Princess of Orange. 

.... amicus dulcis, ut aequiun est. 
Cum mea compenset vitiis bona: pluribus liisce 
(Si modo plura mihi bona simt) incUnet: amari 
Si volet: hae lege, in trutina ponetur eadem. 

— HoR. Serm. Satyr. 3. 
London, Printed by Thomas James, and are to be sold by him at the Printing- 
Press in Mincing-lane, and William Leach at the Crown in Comhil. 
MDCLXXVIII." 

2 The Epistle Dedicatory. To Her Highness The Most lUustrioiis Mary 
Princess of Orange reads: 

" . . . . Be pleased then to receive this Poem (an absolute stranger to the 
world, being never yet seen upon the publick theatre) with that generosity and 
grace you are always ready to bestow upon the imfortimate and fair: and such 
your Highness knows were Oroondates and Statira, who now being forc'd again 
from the peaceful shades of their happy retirement, do throw themselves at 
your princely feet, with the reverence and humility of idolaters, devoutly 
begging their Protection might be in your Highness' umbrage as in the only 
place where they can best be secured from the envy, if I may not venture to 
say, mahce of persecuting censors." 

The author proceeds to describe the Duchess in true heroic style: 

"There is in Your Highness' looks, such a shine and lustre of beauty, as 
is not to be resembled by anything below a divinity; and as the brightness and 
glory of it, Uke the sim, delights and refreshes the eyes of all mankind; so 
also you have mixt with it such a fierceness and grand air of majesty, that, 
Uke a divinity too, you cannot be beheld without fear and trembUng." 

After continuing for some time in this vein, he turns to the description 
of her husband, truly a veritable Artaban or Oroondates: 

"He is so God-like in his vertues, and all his actions; a prince of such 
dazzUng brightness in his glory and renown, as it is impossible to be exprest, 
except we set down whatever is accounted excellent, and that he is. A Prince 
that knew how to conquer, before the world could reasonably imagine he was 
capable of wielding his sword. His countenance is so martial that it plainly 
expresses the great courage he hath, not to know what fear is in himself; and 
yet can strike a general dread and consternation in others; so that he needs 
not be obliged to the use of arms to conquer his enemies, for he can easily 



128 Herbert Wynford Hill 

dedicated, Edward Cooke's Loves Triumph, was never acted, 
and only one edition was ever published. The play opens 
with Roxana's discovery that Statira, whom she had seen 
put to death, still lives, protected by Perdiccas. The plot 
follows in detail that part of Cassandra dramatized by 
Pordage except that the Artaxerxes-Berenice plot is sub- 
stituted for the Orontes-Thalestris plot. 

The play is a close dramatization of Cassandra; there is 
hardly a speech of any length that is not a paraphrase. 
There are a few short scenes of a few lines each not taken 
from Cassandra.^ But in all the other scenes the details are 
the same and in most of the scenes the words are closely 
paraphrased.^ In one place at least he has followed the 
romance word for word, where he gives Roxana's letter to 
Oroondates.^ A few parallel passages will show how faithfully 
Cooke rendered the romance: 

Perdiccas urges that Oroondates be freed. Roxana 
opposes it. 

Loves Triumph Cassandra 

Scene V, p. 6 P. 541 

Perdiccas (speaking to Roxana): [Perdiccas speaking:] 

Madam, I think their satis- It is just, said he, that Oroon- 

f action must dates should be given you, and 

Not be despised, but given them, though you very well know by 
'tis just. the confession I make you of 

gain the victory over them when ere he pleases but to employ the terror of his 
looks. But yet withal, he has such grace-full and winning charms, as none is 
able to behold him without admiration. Such jiistness and regularity is in 
his shape and meen, such sweetness in his motions, and such a generous con- 
descention in all his ways ; that he does not so much make to himself slaves by 
the force of his valour, as he does cause all hearts to become tributary to him 
by his obliging and familiar address." 

1 Act III, scenes 1, 2, 4, and 5; Act IV, scene 6; Act V, scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 
6, and 7. 

2 This is true of Act I, scenes 3, 5, 8, and 9; Act II, scenes 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 
10, 11, and 12; Act III, scenes 9 and 10; Act IV, scenes 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9; and 
in Act V, scenes 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. 

3 Act II, scene 11. 



La Calprenede's Romances 



129 



Loves Triumph 
And though you knew how 

much my int'rest does 
Dechne his freedom, and his 

fetters choose; 
Yet is their Virtue and high 

Merit such, 
To grant all they can ask is not 

too much. 

Roxana proposes that Statira be given up in place of 
Oroondates : 



Cassandra 
my love, how great an interest 
I ought to have in detaining 
him, and what damage I shall 
receive by his hberty; I'le lay 
aside the consideration of my 
own repose, etc. 



She would as weak before our 

walls appear, 
As now she does, being j'^our 

close prisoner 
But Oroondates is a Scythian 

born 
And one our Absolute defeat 

has sworn: 
The greatest of our enemies will 

be. 
And we are ruin'd, if we set 

him free. 



Besides she's a woman, as 
weak without our Walls as in 
our Prison; .... but Oroon- 
dates is a Scythian that has 
taken arms for our destruction 
.... moreover he is the greatest 
and most terrible of your ene- 
mies, so that you cannot set him 
at hberty without contributing 
to your ruin. 



Seleucus exasperated at this speech breaks in: 



Do you no more our services 

regard ? 
Are shghts for loyalty the due 

reward ? 
Is it because among the dead 

we lay. 
Mangled with wounds, and 

neer as cold as they; 
Whilst those, who now dispose 

of us, did flie, 



P. 542 

What (said he with a louder 
voice than ordinary) is it thus 
you use us after what we have 
done for this party ? and have 
you so soon forgotten that we 
have preserved the glory of 
it by our Actions; is it because 
we were left among the dead 
all mangled with wounds, while 
those who now dispose of us 
sought their safety behind our 
Walls? 



130 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Oroondates receives a letter: 

Loves Triumph 

My Lord! 

You are permitted to see my 
Rival, according to your desire, 
but it is not meant you should 
make use of the favour to the 
Ruin of those who grant it you. 
It is in your power to turn it to 
your advantage, if you use it 
as prudence would advise you; 
and in councelling Statira not 
to think of you any more: 
You ought to receive the coun- 
sel she will give you to loose all 
thoughts of her. This is the 
way you ought to follow, if you 
love her Ufe since it shall meerly 
depend upon the success of 
this Enterview. 

ROXANA 



Cassandra 

My Lord! 

You are permitted to see my 
Rival, according to your desire, 
but it is not meant you should 
make use of the favour to the 
Ruin of those who grant it you. 
It is in your power to turn it 
to your advantage, if you use 
it as prudence would advise 
you; and in councelling Sta- 
tira not to think of you any 
more: You ought to receive 
the counsel she wiU give you 
to loose all thoughts of her. 
This is the way you ought to 
follow, if you love her life since 
it shall meerly depend upon 
the success of this Enterview. 

RoXANA 



The characters are faithfully reproduced; indeed here as 
in the plot the author seems to take it for granted that his 
audience is familiar with Cassandra. He follows La Cal- 
prenede's phrasing so closely that it is hard to identify his 
own style. The verse is stiff and labored, utterly lacking in 
ease and grace. Occasionally we get a glimpse of what he 
can do in such passages as the following where he has cut 
loose from the parent wing and ventured a few flights on his 
own pinions: 

Ye mighty Powers! how subtle are your wayes! 

How are they aU encircled in the Rayes 

Of richest Mercies! 

As ghstring Stars which oft obscur'd we find, 

Yet still remain the same the clouds behind.^ 



Act II, scene 12, p. 26. 



La Calprenede's Romances 131 

Again : 

'Tis true but then when Angry heaven shrouds 

Its glory up in dark and sullen clouds, 

We ought to fear least from those clouds should break 

Such storms as may a fatal vengeance speak 

And now my Oroondates is in armes 

Nothing but tears can give me pleasing charmes.* 

Or this, which reminds us of Bankes: 

I'll act the Phaeton of my Mrs Eyes, 
And with her Rayes I'll fire their Pallaces, 
And make one Comet of the spacious skies.'^ 

He had great difficulty in finding rhymes for his couplets. 
Such rhymes as esteem, him; queen, win; declare, fear; 
him, sublime; give, leave, greet the reader on every page, 
showing the extremity he was put to. 

The Young King^ 
The year following Loves Trium'ph there appeared at 
Dorset Garden Mrs. Behn's The Young King.'^ This play 
is founded on one of the most interesting of the minor 
histories in Cleopatra, the story of Alcamenes and Mena- 
lippa.^ The main plot of the play follows the story as told 
by La Calprenede in all essential details. 

1 Act I, scene 7, p. 9. 

' Act IV, scene 1, p. 39. 

3 The Young King was first published 1683. Unless otherwise specified 
the page references are to this edition. The title-page reads: "The Young 
King: or, the Mistake. As 'tis acted at his Royal Highness The Dukes Theatre. 
Written by A. Behn. London: Printed for D. Brown, at the Black Swan and 
Bible without Temple-bar. T. Benskin in St. Brides Church-yard Fleet-street, 
and H. Rhodes, next door to the Bear-tavern near Bride-lane in Fleet-street. 
1683." Another edition was published in 1698. 

* Genest (Vol. I, p. 273) assigns the performance to the latter end of 
1679 on the basis that the "Epilogue is said to have been spoken at the Diike 
of Yorks second exile into Flanders." The play was written several years 
before; it was the first of the plays written by this ingenious author. 

' WiUiam Mears in his Catalogue of Plays (1713) mentions a tragedy called 
Alcameves and Menalippa, and ascribes it to William PhiUps. I have been 
unable to see a copy of this play. 



132 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Thersander the son of the King of Scyihia, disguised 
under the name of Clemanthis, visits the kingdom of the 
hostile King of Dacia. Among the Dacians he wins a 
wonderful reputation for valor, among other exploits saving 
the life of the general of the army. One day, sleeping near 
a murmuring spring in a beautiful grove, he is discovered 
by Cleomena, the lovely Princess of Dacia. He opens his 
eyes to this lovely vision and leaves his liberty at her feet. 
From now on he is willing to follow her "to th' utmost 
bounds of the Universe." She too falls in love but disdains 
him as he seems to be of low station. The ''General " whose 
life the hero has saved is less particular and offers the hero 
his daughter in marriage. Cleomena although disdainful 
becomes jealous of this daughter and banishes the unhappy 
Clemanthis. Thersander in his own character — and un- 
recognized by the Dacians as Clemanthis — enters, on the 
Scythian side, a battle against the Dacians; he saves his 
father's life and turns the tide of the battle in favor of the 
Scythians. 

He can no longer live outside the presence of Cleomena 
and again as Clemanthis he visits the Dacian court. The 
Dacians challenge Thersander to single combat, and select 
as their champion Clemanthis. Thus it happens that our 
hero faces a combat with himself. Nothing daunted, he 
selects a friend to represent himself as Clemanthis and he 
in the person of Thersander is to capture the pseudo- 
Clemanthis, the understanding being that neither is to be 
injured. This highly satisfactory program is broken into 
by an unforeseen difficulty : the friend representing Cleman- 
this is killed by rivals for the hand of Cleomena. Cleomena 
thinking that Thersander is the party guilty of the death 
of Clemanthis, and herself being trained in arms, enters 
in the armor of Clemanthis the arena against Thersander, 



La Calprenede's Romances 133 

Thersander wounds Cleomena and discovers her identity, 
but she recognizes in him only the slayer of her lover. She 
is set free and the King of Scythia proposes that the two 
nations be united by the marriage of Thersander and 
Cleomena. Cleomena is horrified at the proposal. In 
disguise she penetrates the Scythian lines and stabs Ther- 
sander. As he is dying he implores a visit from Cleomena; 
she yields at the last moment and discovers in Thersander her 
lover whom she has thought dead. She confesses her love 
to him, and he recovers. 

To this main plot from Cleopatra, Mrs. Behn added two 
subplots not from La Calprenede: a supporting plot built 
up around the friend killed as Clemanthis, and a rather 
coarse semi-comic plot based on the character of Orsames a 
young man who has never seen a woman. ^ In addition to 
the characters so introduced there are a few characters not 
from Cleopatra, but none of importance — the fop-courtier, a 
sort of Sir Andrew, might be noticed. But the principal 
characters are taken bodily from the romance. 

The characters and the situations and the incidents are 
sufficiently familiar to the reader by this time to call for no 
further comment. There are however in the plots some new 
combinations, and a sprinkling of novelty such as to give it 
spice and interest. The story as told by La Calprenede is 
one of the most dramatic of his minor plots and very vividly 
presented. Mrs. Behn found the material so well suited 
to her purpose that the task of play writing was reduced 
to cutting the lines and putting them into blank verse. A 
few passages will illustrate the process. 

The Heroine discovers the hero asleep in a grove, his 
plumed cap lying near by: 

> Almanzor in Polexander is raised in the same ignorance. 



134 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



The Young King, I, ii, p. 8 

Cleo. Must this be he must kill 
the King of Scythia ? 

For I must lay no claim to any- 
other : 

Grant, Oh ye Gods, who play 
with Mortals thus. 

That him for whom ye have 
design'd your Slave, 

May look like this Unknown, 

And I'll be ever grateful for the 
Bounty. — 

But these are vain imaginary 
joys. 



Cleopatra, Part II, p. 128 
[Men.] Is this he, to whom the 
Gods have destined the ruine 
of the King of Scythia? .... 
If it please the Gods (con- 
tinued she) that he for whom 
heaven and my fortune reserves 
me, resemble this Unknown, 
how much shall I be obliged to 
their bounty? But alas (pur- 
sues she with a sigh) I feed 
upon vain imaginations. 



The hero awakes and, seeing her, addresses her: 



Ther. Great Goddess, pardon 

an unlucky Stranger, 
The errours he commits 'gainst 

your Divinity, 
Who, had he known this Grove 

had Sacred been. 
He wou'd not have prophan'd 

it by his presence. 

P. 8 
Cleo. Rise, Sir, I am no Deity; 
Or if I were, I cou'd not be 

offended 
To meet so brave a man 
Ther. Can you be mortal! 
What happy Land contains 

you? Or what Men 
Are worthy to adore you? 
Cleo. I find you are a stranger 

to this place, 
You else had known me to be 

Cleomena. 



[Ale.] Great Goddess, said 
he, pardon to a stranger the 
errour he may have committed 
against your Divinity; had I 
known this sacred place, I 
would not have prophan'd it 
by my presence. 

P. 129 
[Men.] I am no Goddess, or, 
if I were, I could not be dis- 
pleased to meet you: 

[Ale] What Land can con- 
tain her, or what men are 
worthy to adore her! 

[Men.] .... and were you no 
stranger .... you had possibly 
known the Princess Menalippa 



La Calprenede's Romances 



135 



The Young King 
Ther. The Princess Cleomena! 

my mortal Enemy! 
Cleo. You seem displeas'd at 

the knowledge of my name; 
But, give me leave to tell you, 

yours on me 
Wou'd have another Sense. 
Ther. The knowledge of your 

Name has not displeased me; 
But, Madam, I had sooner 

took you for 
The Soveraign of the world than 

that of Dacia; 
Nor ought you to expect less 

adoration 
From all that World, than those 

who're born your Slaves; 
— And amongst those devout 

ones number him. 
Whose happy Fate conducted 

to your Feet, 
And who'll esteem himself more 

fortunate, 
If by that little service he had 

rendered you, 
Clemanthis' Name have ever 

reach'd your Ear. 



Cleo-patra 
.... Menalippa, his mortal 
enemy. 

[Men.\ I know not (said she) 
whether the knowledge of my 
name hath given you any dis- 
pleasure, but I should be very 
glad to learn yours. 

[Ale] the knowledge of your 
name hath not surprized me 
.... I should rather take 
you for the Sovereign of the 
Universe, than the Princess of 
Dacia; and you ought not to 
expect less homage from all 
men, than from those who are 
born your subjects; and 
amongst the most humble 
adorers of those marks of Di- 
vinity, which appear visible 
in you, you may number him 
whom his good fortune hath 
conducted to your Feet, and 
who will esteem himself exceed- 
ing glorious if that little service, 
by which he hath endeavored 
to render you, the name of 
Aldmedon hath arrived at your 
ears. 



And so the scene runs, closely paraphrasing the scene in 
the romance. Mrs. Behn has also copied her landscape 
from La Calprenede. 



The Young King, II, iii, 
pp. 20+ 
Cleo. Look Clemanthis — on 
yonder tuft of Trees, 



Cleopatra, Part II, p. 132 

The Princess shewed him a 
Spring, encompassed with some 



136 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



The Young King 

Near which there is a httle mur- 
muring Spring, 

From whence a Rivolet does 
take its rise, 

And branches forth in Channels 
through the Garden; 

'Twas near a place like that 
where first I saw Clemanthis. 

Ther. Madam, be pleas'd to 
add, 'twas also there 

Clemanthis left his Liberty at 
the Feet 

Of Divine Cleomena; 

And charg'd himself with those 
too glorious Chains, 

Never to be dismist but with 
his Life. 

Cleo. Stranger — before I pun- 
ish thy Preseumption, 

Inform me who it is that has 
offended : 

Who giving me no other knowl- 
edge of him. 

Than what his Sword has done 
— dares raise his eyes to me ? 



Cleopatra 
Trees, from whence a Rivulet 
took its rise, branching forth 
in many channels, through the 
Garden. It was (said she) near 
such a place as this that I first 
saw Alcimedon; 



.... and you may add, 
Madam, replied Alcammes, 
'Twas in that place, that Al- 
cimedon left his liberty at the 
feet of the divine Menalippa, 
and charged himself with those 
glorious Chains which he will 
carry to his tomb. 

Stranger, said she, if I behold 
thy boldness with rigour, I 
should judge it worthy of pun- 
ishment, .... first let her 
know who is this audacious 
man, that without giving us 
any other knowledge than that 
of his Sword, dares lift his eyes 
to the Princess of Dacia. 



In her character presentation Mrs. Behn sticks closely 
to La Calprenede's interpretation. Note her presentation 
of the jealous rage of the heroine:^ 



I Note also in the speech of the heroine when she discovers her supposed 
lover dead (III, iv; Cleopatra, Part II, p. 155) and the hero's speech when he 
discovers he has been fighting against the heroine (.The Young King, IV, ii; 
Cleopatra, Part II, p. 157). The heroine's letter to the hero in answer to his 
proposal (The Young King, IV, v, p. 153) is patched up from lines taken from 
the letter in the romance (^Cleopatra, Part II, p. 165). The trial of the heroine 
for her murderous assault on the hero (The Young King, V, 1), follows closely 



La Calprenede's Romances 



137 



The Young King, II, 4, p. 26 

'Twas but even now, he lov'd 
me with such Ardor; 

And he, who promis'd me the 
Crown of Scythia 

Dars't thou become unjust, un- 
grateful Stranger! 

Who having rais'd thy Eyes to 
Cleomena 

Would sacrifice her to another 
Mistress : 

Traitor — hast thou the impu- 
dence to appear before me, 



Cleopatra, Part II, p. 138 
.... this man who late 
loved me with so much ardor 
.... he who promised to 
Crown me Queen of Scythia, 
should be no other than a De- 
ceiver .... who having lifted 
his eyes to Menahppa .... 
would now sacrifice her to 
Barzana's Daughter? Traytor, 
hast thou the impudence to 
present thy self before me ? 



the scene in the romance {Cleopatra, Part II, pp. 170+). The reconciliation 
scene duplicates that of the romance: 



The Young King, V, 4, p. 59 
Cleo. Thersander, I am come to beg 

thy pardon. 
If thou art innocent, as I must be- 

Ueve thee. 
And here before the King to make 

confession 
Of what I did refuse the Queen my 

Mother. 
Know then, I lov'd! and with a 

perfect passion. 
The most imfortunate of men, 

Clemanthis. 
His Birth I never knew, but do be- 
lieve 
It was Illustrious, as were his 

Actions ; 
But I have lost him by a fatal 

accident. 
That very day he should have fought 

with you. 
Ther. No, I shall never complain of 

Cleomena 
If she still love Clemanthis. 

Cleo. There needs no more to make 
me know that Voice. 

Oh stay, this joy too suddenly sur- 
prizes .... 

Oh, my Clemanthis! do I hold thee 
fast? 



Cleopatra, Part II, p. 177 
[Alcamenes] I come to make that 
reparation which I owe to you if 
you are innocent .... 

I will make a confession of that 
before the King .... which I re- 
fused to confess .... to my own 
Mother .... I have loved with an 
innocent affection the valiant Al- 
cimedon. 



His birth was never known to me, 
though I am not ignorant that it 
was of the most illustrious amongst 
men; .... I have lost him by a 
dismal accident, on that day he 
should have fought with you. 



Alcamenes cannot complain of 
MenaUppa's cruelty, if Menahppa 
stUl loves her Alcimedon. He spake 
only these few words and there 
needed no more to make Menalippa 
know the beloved voyce of Alcimedon 

Throwing her arms about his neck, 
.... Alcimedon, said she! 



138 Herbert Wynford Hill 

It would be impossible to follow a source so closely as 
does Mrs. Behn without catching some of the style. And in 
some of the places where she uses her own invention we find 
passages like the following in La Calprenede's vein. Urania 
describes Amintas: 

A tempting Face and shape: 
A Tongue bewitching, soft, and Breath as sweet 
As is the welcome Breeze that does restore 
Life to man half kill'd with heat before: 
But has a Heart as false as Seas in Calms, 
Smiles first to tempt, then ruines with its Storms.^ 

Whatever the reason, there was for nearly two decades a 
dearth of heroic plays. In 1695, however, Lee's The Rival 
Queens was revived with great magnificence and in the next 
two years appeared two plays taken from La Calprenede. 
These were The Neglected Virtue, 1696, and The Unnatural 
Brother, 1697. 

Neglected Virtue, or The Unhappy Conqueror"^ 
No author is assigned. Mr. H[ildebrand] Horden, who 
wrote and spoke one of the prologues, in a prefatory note 
dedicating the play to the Honourable Sir John Smith, 
Baronet, admits responsibility for the publishing of the play, 
but modestly assigns the authorship to a friend. No one, 
however, can read the preface without leaning strongly 
to the opinion that Mr. Horden himself is the friend referred 
to. In the first place, the play was not very successful and 
was severely attacked by the critics; and there was accord- 
ingly little glory to be gained by coming forward as the 
author. In the second place, Horden writing of "those 

» Act I, scene 1, p. 4. 

2 The title-page reads: "Neglected Virtue: Or, The Unhappy Con- 
querour. A Play, Acted at the Theatre-Royal. By His Majesty's Servants. 
London: Printed for Henry Rhodes in Fleet Street, Richard Parker, at the 
Royal- Exchange, Sam Briscoe, the Corner Shop of Charles-street, in Russell- 
street, Covent-Garden, 1696." 



La Calprenede's Romances 139 

wide-mouth'd Curs, the Criticks," says, " But since they have 
had their Ends in running it down, 'tis under the Shelter 
of your Name I desire a poor raaim'd Thing, that did its 
best to shew them Sport, may lye secure from farther 
danger." A friend might thus violently assail the critics, 
but it is highly improbable that a friend would speak so 
deprecatingly of the play as to call it a "poor maim'd 
Thing."! 

The main plot of Neglected Virtue is based on one of the 
supporting plots of Cleopatra, namely, that of Artaban 
and Elisa. The play has a rather weak subplot^ intended to 
furnish some comic elements related to the main plot very 
slightly. The main plot opens with the account of a battle 
between the Medes and Parthians, fought by Tigranes, 
king of the Medes, to win Alinda, daughter of Phraates, king 
of the Parthians. Artaban, the hero, has been banished 
because having won great victories for the Parthians he 
has the insolence to ask for the hand of Alinda. Checking 
his resentment he comes to the aid of Phraates in the nick 
of time to save him from defeat at the hands of Tigranes. 

To this point the play follows the plot as given by La Cal- 
prenede. Now, contrary to the romance, Phraates of the 
play yields temporarily to the suit of the hero. The action 
is straightway brought back into the lines of the romance 
through a false oracle,^ which sets Phraates against the 
marriage of his daughter to Artaban; as in the romance 

» John Mottley, in his " Last of all the EngUsh Dramatic Poets" (appended 
to Whincop's Scanderberg, printed London, 1747) assigns the play to Horden, 
although on just what basis he does not state. 

2 The comic subplot is from Fletcher according to the revised Langbaine 
(cf. p. 165, 1699 ed.; cf. also Genest, II, 83). 

' The oracle is worked up by the Queen who has fallen in love with Arta- 
ban. This situation of an unscrupulous queen in love with the hero is a con- 
ventional one in the romance and heroic plays. Cf. Cassandra, Cleopatra, 
Pharamond; Aurengzebe, The Indian Emperor, The Indian Queen, Alcibiadea, 
Don Carlos, etc. 



140 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Alinda is promised to Tigranes, and Artaban is banished. 
In both the play and the romance Artaban attacks and kills 
one of the guards, and being captured grows insolent. The 
King offers him his life as a reward for his services. Artaban 
rejects the offer and by boastful threats spurs the King on to 
take his life. He is again banished. He furiously desires to 
take up arms against Phraates but is restrained by a promise 
he has made not to fight against the father of the heroine. 
At the risk of his life he returns to see Alinda. Here the 
author of the play takes final leave of the plot of the romance. 
La Calprenede brings the hero and heroine together in a 
happy conclusion. All the chief characters of the play meet 
with violent death: Artaban kills Tigranes, Memnon kills 
the King and the Queen, the heroine poisons herself, and the 
hero falls upon his sword.^ 

With the exception of the Queen and Memnon the char- 
acters of the play are taken from Cleopatra.^ The bright- 
eyed heroine Alinda is thus described by Artaban :^ 

Thou art all Goodness, perfect Charity; 

Nor does the Aetherial Maid that bears that Name, 

With half thy Beams, and brighten'd Beauties shine; 

Oh! I cou'd look, and love, and gaze, and Uve. 

And bask my self within these Rays for ever: 

Thy Eye's my Sphere of Light, thy Breast my Globe; 

My Garden's in thy Face, and in thy Heart my Love.^ 

She is courageous and faithful in adversity and most beauti- 
ful when in tears (Act IV, scene 2, p. 30) : 

1 In making the conclusion tragic he was following the precedent set by 
Lee, who ends nearly aU his plays in tragedy. Note especially the endings of 
Gloriana, Mithridates, and Caesar Borgia; cf. also the endings of Otway's 
Alcibiades and Don Carlos, Tate's Loyal General, etc. 

2 Elisa of the romance is given the name Alinda; but the other characters 
as Phraates, Artaban, Tigranes, etc., retain the names given in Cleopatra. 

» Act II, p. 18, first edition. 

* For a good burlesque pictiu'e of this kind of description see frontispiece to 



La Calprenede's Romances 141 

Whilst from her Eyes those Diamond quarries run, 
The teary Streams that Dew'd her Rosal cheeks, 
Which as they fell bending to kiss her Lips, 
Her sighs drove back, to seek their Grave below. 

The Queen of Sorrow ne'er was Dressed Uke her. 
So beautifull she seem'd, so full of Grace 
Amidst her griefs, she might have charm'd a God. 

Sorel's Berger extravagant. Written on the fly-leaf of the edition before me 
is the following description: 

John Bucknall 

The Extravagant Sheperd's Rhapsody on his Paragon of Beauty. 

See Frontispiece. 



How shaU I describe my Beauteous Fair, 

Net Work, the Tresses of her Silken Hair. 

Each Locke, attracting, strongly doth impart 

As if from every Plat there hung a Heart. 

Upon her forehead is Urchin Cupid's Seat, 

Her Eyebrows, Uke her coral Lips, bid Fools Retreat. 

Her killing Eyes, the Radient Sun outshines, 

Roses and LiUies on her Cheeks Combines. 

Her teeth, hke Rows of Precious Pearls appear. 

Her Breasts, Uke Globes, that Monarchs would endear. 

Her Balmy Lips enflaraes the Lovers sign 

Her Neck, a PiUar of fairest Ivory 

Her Bosom is Love's Paragon to see; 

Which draws the Curtain, fringed with Vanity. 

Whatever Nature unto Me has freely Giv'n 

As free I'd yield, as I received from Heav'n 

Her Image is a Pattern for the Lover's Praise. 

Oft Flies are Burnt within the Candles blaze 

So to Conclude and make the most of Time 

Let Critics, feeling Read, and mend the Rhyme. 

T. H. Thompson 
St. James Westminstre, 
J. B. July, 1813 

The prologue to Thomas DufiPet's The Empress of Morocco is a similar 
burlesque: 

As when some dogrel-monger raises 

Up Muse, to flatter Doxies praises. 

He talks of Gems and Paradises, 

Perfumes and Arabian Spices; 

Making up Phantastick Posies 

Of Eye-Uds, Foreheads, Cheeks and Noses, 

CaUing them LiUies, Pinks and Roses 

Teeth Orient Pearl, and Coral Lips are. 

Necks Alablaster and Marble Hips are; 

Prating of Diamonds, Saphyrs, Rubies, 

What a Pudder's with these Boobies ? 

Dim eyes are Stars, and Red hair's Guinnies: 

And thus described by these Ninnies, 

As they sit scribbling on Ale-Benches 

Are Homely dowdy Country Wenches 

So when this Plot quite purged of Ale is. 

In naked truth but a plain 'Tale is; 

And in such dress we mean to shew it. 

In spight of our damn'd Fustian Poet, 

Who has disguis'd it with duU Hist'ri's, 

Worse than his Brethren e're did Mistress. 



142 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Artaban is a distinct copy of La Calprenede's Artaban. 
He is invincible and of godlike appearance and demeanor. 
He has a natural fierceness, which when he is roused to 
anger strikes terror to the hearts of all who see him. The 
Queen says, 

Oh Heavens! how he looks, a brave disdain 

Strikes Uke the Darts of Lightning through his Eyes,^ 

yet "Alinda's name can charm his utmost rage."^ He is 
possessed of unbounded self-confidence which results in 
mighty boasts. He tells Alinda: 

Say, brightest Pattern of the Deities, speak, 
And let me know what Dowries you expect. 

Name in what fertile soil you'll have a Throne; 
Be it beyond the Alps, or there where runs 
Pactolus Streams oe'r Sands of shining Gold. 
I'll lead my conquering Bands where the bold Foot 
Of Warriour never trod, oe'r Hills of Snow, 
Where Summer's Suns ne'r made a Chearful Day 
Or changing climates farther Eastward go; 
Where Nature in her Fire, expiring lies, 
And the parch'd Earth gapes for a blast of Air: 
May search lost Paradice, and place ye there.' 

And speaking to Tigranes he says: 

That Life of mine is sacred, placed so high 
In the large Throne of Fame; thy Uttle Arm 
Can never rise to touch it, as well thou mays't 
Great Jove in yonder Starry Seat attempt, 
And from his Fellow-Gods, discard him thence, 
Bottle his Winds and stand his Thunder-bolts. 

» p. 25. 

2 Cf. also p. 28: 

My very Rage luxuriant for thee grown is stopt, 



Like the great Thunderer 
By a kind Goddess, etc. 



» P. 15. 



La Calprenede's Romances 143 

The author does not follow La Calprenede's phrasing 
closely but evidently wrote the play with the romance fresh 
in his mind, as occasional parallels like the following indicate 
Artaban being refused Alinda bursts forth: 

Neglected Virtue Cleopatra 

Act III, scene 1, p. 25 Part I, p. 247 

Look o're my Breast, and see 'tis all the fruit I can shew 

the Scars it wears; of the scars I wear for you and 

These Seams torn to defend the unfortunate Tigranes, from 

thy tottering Throne, whose lofty crest I plucked 

And tell me, tell me, deluded down Victory, to perch her upon 

fearfull King, your Standards, tumbled him 

Have I deserv'd such Infamous from his Throne 

returns ? 

The conversation throughout the rest of this scene has 
a general resemblance to that in Cleopatra. 

The style of Neglected Virtue has been fairly well indi- 
cated by the passages already quoted. In the serious portions 
of the play the style is that of La Calprenede carried to 
extremes. It is more flamboyant, more exaggerated, but still 
hauntingly like La Calprenede's. This is especially notice- 
able in the numerous figures drawn from Nature, such as 
the following: 

So have I seen two Sister-Streams that spread. 
Their Silver Currents from one Fountain's Head, 
Kiss, and take each their several way, through all 
The fertile Soyle where their soft Murmurs fall. 
Till having run their Course, they kindly greet, 
And in the Sea, their twin'd Embraces meet.^ 

The following is even more like La Calprenede although 
I can quote no close parallel (p. 15) : 

» Act II, p. 19. Cf. The lines in The ReheaTsal: "So boar and sow," 
etc., a parody on Dryden's "So two fond Turtles," etc. 



144 Herbert Wynpord Hill 

Close by the Mossy Head of some Sweet Spring, 
Whence gentle Streams their murmuring Cadence make 
Thro' flowry Meads, Green Lanes, and Whispering Groves. 
I'd rather hve with thee than in gay Courts, 
Those busie Markets of Revenge and Hate. 

The Unnatural Brother^ 

Filmer encouraged by the renewal of interest in La Cal- 
prenede now tried his hand at a play from this author. He 
selected for his plot the story of Theander and Alcione from 
the Cassandra. It is interesting chiefly as being the only 
play based on a minor history from Cassandra, all the plays 
heretofore from Cassandra being taken from the principal 
plot. 

Filmer's play was first acted at the Lincoln's Inn Fields 
in 1697, and published the same year. It met with very 
poor success and passed from the stage after the third per- 
formance. In the preface the author comments on the ill 
success of the play. On inquiry from his friends he discovers 
that the faults of the play are : 

That the Play was too grave for the Age, That I had made a 
choice of too few Persons, and that the Stage was never filled; 
there seldom appearing above two at a time, and never above 
three, till the end and winding up of the whole. 

He defends the play by appeal to the ancients, con- 
tinuing : 

These are the mighty faults that have so intirely Damned 
this Play: and yet if these must be thought faults now in our nicer 
Age, I am sure they were not thought such heretofore by the 
Antients; for they generally made use of but few Persons, and 
never made it any part of their business to fill the stage. 

1 The title-page reads as follows: "The Unnatural Brother. A Tragedy, 
it was acted by His Majesties Servants, at the Theatre in Little Lincolns- 
Inn-Fields. London. Printed by J. Orme, for Richard Wilkin, at the Kings- 
Head in St. Paul's Church-yard. MDCXCVII." 



LaCalprenede's Romances 145 

Motteux attempted to revive a part of the play in his 
Novelty,^ the fourth act, called The Unfortunate Couple, 
being a condensation of the last part of Filmer's play with 
some slight changes. Motteux appears to have selected 
The Unnatural Brother largely for the reason that it had 
already been studied by the company, and yet he makes 
bold to praise the play in his preface. 

Then I wanted nothing but a Tragedy to have something of 
every kind [he naively explains]. But, as I said already, the best 
Tragedians were engaged in other Plays. At last I bethought my 
self of one already studied, called The Unnatural Brother, written 
by an ingenious Gentleman, and acted 6 months ago, tho not 
with the success it deserved. Yet the latter Part was extremely 
applauded: So I was perswaded to make bold with it, as I do, with 
thankful Acknowledgment; but rather, because I could easily 
contract the most moving Part of the Story into the Compass of 
one Act, with some Additions; yet without mutilating my Author's 
Sense, for which I have all the Veneration imaginable. 

This presentation evidently met with no better reception 
than the original, if we may believe Gildon^ who disposes of 
it briefly as "The Novelty; every word stolen and then 
Damned." 

The characters in The Unnatural Brother with the excep- 
tion of Leonora correspond closely to those of Cassandra. 
Leonora is original with Filmer. Grammount plays the role 
of Theander, the honest loving husband who is led astray 
by villains. Montigny takes the part played by Cleonimus 
in the romance — the friend faithful to the end in spite of 
everything, Dampierre, La Calprenede's Astiages, and 
Beaufort, Bagistanes. Filmer departs from the romance, 
however, in making Dampierre the major villain. In 

i"The Novelty Every Act a Play Being a Short Pastoral, Comedy, 
Masque, Tragedy, and Farce after the Italian manner. As it is Acted at the 
New-Theatre in Little Lincoln's Inn-flelds. etc. London, 1697." 

' Charles Gildon, A Comparison Between the Tv)0 Stages, etc., 1702. 



146 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Cassandra Bagistanes is the leading spirit; he it is who 
through inhuman cunning and bloodthirstiness leads all on 
to destruction.^ 

The following table will help to keep the reader straight 
on the relation of the characters in the two accounts: 

The Characters of The Corresponbing 

The Unnatural Brother Characters in Cassandra 

Beaufort, Governour of Lyons Bagistanes, Governour of Baby- 
lon 

Grammount, Nephew to the Theander, Nephew to Bagis- 

Governour tanes 

Dampierre, Brother to Gram- Astiages, Brother to Theander 

mont 

Montigny, Friend to Gram- Cleonimus, Friend to Theander 

mount 

Elvira, Wife to Grammount Alcione, Wife to Theander 
Leonora, Sister to Grammount 

Lysette, Woman to Elvira A Maid, Woman to Alcione 

Nearly all of the incidents and situations of the play are 
taken from the romance, as the following comparative lists 
will show:^ 



1 There are foiir wicked brothers in Cleopatra, Ptolemey, Artaxes, Adal- 
lus, and Phraates, but no one of these appears to have influenced Fihner. 

2 In the preface Filmer acknowledges his indebtedness to the Cas- 
sandra: "But I had almost forgot to acquaint the Reader with one objection 
more, against this Play, than what I have mentioned. On the third day, there 
was a certain Lady in one of the Boxes, who thought she could not more 
effectually decry it, than by declaring aloud that it was nothing but an old 
story taken out of Cassandra, And I readily grant it: yet can by no means 
aUow that to be a fault. Mr. Dryden has said too much in the defense of 
such an innocent piece of theft, and extremely well justified the thing, both 
by his Arguments and Practice. All I desire of that Lady, by way of amends, 
is, that if ever these Papers have the happiness to reach her hands, she would 
be pleased to renew her acquaintance with the story of Alcinoe [evidently for 
Alcione] in that Romance, and compare it with this Play: And then I dare 
be bold to affirm, she will not think me over-much beholding to it: But may 
perhaps be so charitable, as to entertain a more favourable opinion of the 
Play, and of the Poet." 



La Calprenede's Romances 



147 



The Unnatural Brother 

1. Beaufort tells Dampierre 
of his lust for Elvira; they plot 
to seduce her. 

2. Montigny is beloved by 
Leonora. 

3. Dampierre interrupts a 
conversation between Leonora 
and Elvira in the garden. 

4. Leonora runs away. 
Dampierre attempts to ravish 
Elvira but is prevented by the 
timely arrival of Montigny. 

5. Dampierre accuses Mon- 
tigny to Grammount of attempt- 
ing to ravish Elvira. 

6. Montigny learning of Dam- 
pierre's treachery shields him 
from Grammount because Dam- 
pierre is Grammount's brother, 

7. One of Elvira's maids cor- 
rupted by Dampierre confesses 
falsely to tearing up a love note 
from Ehdra to Montigny. 

8. Grammount accuses El- 
vira of inconstancy; she stabs 
herself. 

9. Lysette, the maid, con- 
fesses to her treachery. 

10. She is poisoned by Dam- 
pierre. 

11. Grammount stabs him- 
self and dies. 

12. Elvira dies. 

13. Dampierre is condemned 
to die by torture. 

14. Beaufort retires to a her- 
mitage. 



Cassandra 
The same. 



This situation is original 
with Filmer; there is no Leo- 
nora in Cassandra. 

Astiages comes upon Alcione 
in a garden, and presents inde- 
cent proposals from Bagistanes. 

Bagistanes attempts to ravish 
Alcione in his treasure chamber 
but is prevented by the timely 
arrival of Cleonimus. 

The same. 



The same. 
The same. 

The same. 

The same. 

Not in the romance. 

The same. 

Alcione recovers. 
Not in the romance. 

Not in the romance. 



148 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



Although Filmer thus faithfully renders La Calprenede's 
account, he does not slavishly follow his phrasing. At no 
point has he taken passages word for word, although in 
some cases he has paraphrased closely. It appears that the 
story in the romance was fresh in his mind, but he certainly 
did not work with the pages of Cassandra open before him, 
A few passages will serve to show to what extent he depended 
upon his source : 

Cassandra 
Pp. 229+ 
When he was close by his 
own house, he by the light of a 
Torch which one of his servants 
carried before him, saw one of 
the maids come out, .... 



The Unnatural Brother 
Act IV, p. 35 

The scene is before Gram- 
mount's house. The stage di- 
rections read : 

Enter Gramraoimt and a 
page before him with a Flam- 
beau. A noise of opening a door 
and Lysette enters who seeing 
Grammount pretends to avoid 
him. He stops her and turning 
up her hood sees her tearing a 
Letter with her Teeth. 
Gram. Hah! Who art thou 

that stealest Away so guiltily ? 
Nay, I must see, Lysette! 
Whither away at this unseason- 
able time of night, 
And what paper's that thou 

Humblest so ? 
Lyset. Alas! I am undone. 

Pardon me; sir, 
Oh Pardon me I beseech you. 
Gram. Would'st have me pard'n 

thee e're I know thy fault. 
Confess, and then perhaps thou 

mays't deserve it. 
Lyset. Oh never, never, all 

that I desire, 



gods! (said she) I am un- 
done, and at the same time, she 
tore a Paper which she had in 
her hand, and thrust the pieces 
hastily into her mouth. 

(Theander speaks) 
Whither goest thou and 
whither wert thou carrying that 
paper which I saw thee tear 
just now? 

Ah; Sir (said she) I beseech 
you pardon me; and repeating 
those words twice or thrice, she 
appeared to be strucken with 
so great an astonishment that 
Theander's was redoubled by 
it. Speak (said he) and if thou 
wilt have me pardon thee con- 
fess thy fault to me presently. 



La Calprenede's Romances 



149 



The Unnatural Brother 
Is that you would be so just, 

as to believe 
Me only guilty, for on my life 

My Lady's innocent. 
Gram. Hah! thy Lady, speak, 

what of her? 
Lyset. Why, she I do declare 

to all the world 
Is innocent, by all that's good 

she is. 
Nay were I to die next minute, 
My Tongue should end my 

story with that truth. 
Gram. I ask not of her inno- 
cence, but teU me. 
And tell me truely, as thou 

hop'st for any 
Mercy from me, whither wert 

thou 
SteaUng with that Letter, and 

what 
Were the contents of it? 
Lyset. For Heaven sake, and 

for your own, Sir, 
Press me no further, here on 

my knees 
I beg you would not. 
Gram. Ha! Do'st thou daUy 

with me ? 
Come, speak quickly, or by 

heaven thou diest. 
Lyset. Do with me what you 

please. 
But force me not, I do beseech 

you. 
To a Confession that — 
Gram. What! Speak I say, tell 

me, 



Cassandra 
That subtil wench wiping her 
eyes, and seeming to tremble, 
Ah! Sir, (reply 'd she) my obe- 
dience is guilty, but yet both 
my Lady, and I are more inno- 
cent in effect than in appear- 
ance, and if I tore this letter, 
it was my fear that made me 
imprudently commit that fault. 
But from whom, and to whom 
wert thou carrying it, demanded 
Theander hastily? 



150 



Herbert Wynford Hill 



The Unnatural Brother 

What was that Paper, to whom 
directed, 

And from whom ? 

Lyset. Alas I die for fear. 

Gram. If thou continuest ob- 
stinate, 

Not all the world shall save 
thee from my Fury. 

Lyset. It was — 

Gram. What was it, speak I 
say? 

Lyset. It was a Letter — 

Gram. From whom ? 

Lyset. It was a Letter from my 
Lady — 

Gram. Well said, to whom ? 

Lyset. To — Yet, Sir, excuse 
me I conjure you. 

Gram. Hah more trifling, out 
with it boldly, or — 

Lyset. 'Twas to Montigny, Sir, 

Your best, and dearest friend, 
Montigny. 

Gram. To Montigny! 

Was it to Montigny, that El- 
vira sent thee 

With that Letter at this un- 
seasonable hoiu"?^ 



Cassandra 



My Lady (answered she) 
sent it to Cleonimus. 



Theander quite confounded, 
or rather quite beside himself, 
eyeing the wench from head to 
foot, Did Alcione (said he) send 
thee to Cleonimus at this time 
of the night and in the dark as 
I met thee ? 



The Death Scene, A.V. 

The Unnatural Brother, p. 44 Cassandra, P. 232 

Gram. {To Elvira) 
No, fear not too hasty, or too 

hard 
A sentence from my mouth. 
False as thou art, 

> In Lee's Caesar Borgia there is a similar incident. 



[Thea.] Fear not any worse 
usage from my resentment 
than what you have already 
received; my grief may well 
send me to my grave, but it 



La Calprenede's Romances 



151 



The Unnatural Brother 

I cannot hate, where once I 
loved so well. 

Live then Elvira live long, but 
live a 

Stranger to Grammount. And 
that thou may'st live 

Happily, wipe from thy mem- 
ory the 

Dearest passages of some few 
past years. 

And see thou quite forget, there 
ere was such 

A wretch i'th world as I am. 

(After both have stabbed them- 
selves) 

P. 49 

Elv. Oh my Grammount! 

My love can pardon thee any- 
thing, 

Yet 't was unkind, to give me 
thus 

A second wound, a wound more 
grievous 

To the poor Elvira, than the 
first 

Which gave her death. 



Cassandra 
shall never make me injure her 
I have too dearly and too per- 
fectly loved .... live without 
my friendship 



P. 233 

[Ale.] Theander, dear cruel 
Theander, was not my death 
painful enough, without your 
making it a thousand times 
more sensible, by being guilty 
of yours ? 



It is easy to understand the ill success of The Unnatural 
Brother. The play has no snap or vim; from start to finish 
the action drags along at an intolerably slow pace. Where 
the situations demand swift, incisive action, there are to be 
found needless explanation and philosophical digressions. 
Grammount near the close of the play facing the destruction 
of his home, speaks thus: 

What is that thing call'd Happiness, which Men 
With so much noise and eager zeal pursue 



152 Herbert Wynford Hill 

So many several ways, each hoping to 
Attain it in the possession of some 
Distant longed-for Blessing, tho' all aUke 
In vain ? For even that darling Blessing 
Plac'd in a nearer light, and once enjoy'd, 
Loses but too much of its wonted lustre; 
Or else, encounter'd with rude Crosses from 
Abroad, is lost and buried in a thick 
And dismal Cloud of rank uneasie Cares. 
There's no such thing then as a happy man 
On this side of the Grave. Look on me, all 
You vain Pretenders, look on me, and own 
At last this Truth; for aU the dearest Joys 
Of Life did seem to court and flatter me : 
Yet all those Joys are in one moment dampt, 
All vanisht, all lost to me for ever.^ 

There is little bombast; the blank verse, although prosy, 
carries the thought simply and with considerable dignity. 
Figures of speech are not numerous, although occasionally 
outbursts like the following occur: 

Elvira: From those dark Clouds which in thy Face appear. 
My boading heart foretells a rising Storm 
Of grief witliin thy Breast, speak, my Grammount, 
What ruder cares, to thy Elvira yet 
Unknown, sit heavy on thy drooping Soul 7^ 

and again: 

Honour! thou strange fantastick airy thing, 
Thou losing bargain to the bravest Souls, 
Thou easie purchase, costly to maintain. 
Thou cloke to bold ambition's restless hopes; 
No more, to thy capricious humours wiU 
I blindly bow, nor court thee as a slave.* 

But in the main the style is not ornate nor unpleasing. 
Like the action of the play it is plodding, unexciting, 
colorless. 

I Act V, p. 41. 2 Act I, p. 8. 3 Act I, p. 9. 



La Calprenede's Romances 153 

the decline of the heroic style 
In 1702 Mr. Betterton addressed an audience at the New 
Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields in the following words : 

An Ancient Poet will appear to Night, 
Rais'd from Elysium to the Realms of Light. 
The softest Charmer of a Charming Age, 
Assmnes the Buskin and ascends the Stage, 
To move your passions and your Hearts engage. 
But oh! How hardly will he reach his Aim, 
When Love and Honour are his only Theme ? 
There was a time, when all those Passions felt. 
And soothing Bards could stubborn Heroes melt. 
An Amorous Monarch fiU'd a peaceful Throne, 
And laughing Cupids Perch'd upon his Crown. 
StiU in some Breasts the British Spirit rose 
Which scorns all chains but what the Fair impose. 
Then Altemira might have hop'd Success, 
A tender Audience sharing her Distress. 
Then Heroes, govern'd by severer Rules, 
Had not been laugh'd at for Romantick Fools, 
But in this Iron-Age your Souls to move. 
In vain we try by Honour or by Love. 
The certain way to please your Vitious Tast, 
Are Streams of Blood and Volleys of Bombast. 
Dancers and Tumblers now the Stage Prophane, 
Musick and Farce alone our Plays sustain, 
And Art and Nature leave the trifling Scene .^ 

The complaint was not a new one. In 1668 Edward 
Howard^ bewails the prevalence of farce, and heroic plays: 

Works that have their measures adorned with Trappings of 
Rhime, which how'ere they have succeeded in wit or design, is 
still thought musick, as the Heroick Tone now goes. 

The other extream which deserves some Reflection; and which 
far more debases the Dignity of the Stage, is that of Farce or 

» Prologue by Henry St. John, Esq., prefaced to Charles Boyle's revision 
of Roger Boyle's Altemira, London, 1702. 

2 In a preface to The Usurper, London, 1668. (The play was licensed 
August 2, 1667.) 



154 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Scommatick Plays, which have so tickled some late Audiences, 
with I know not what kind of JolUty, that true Comedy is fool'd 
out of Countenance, and instead of Humor and wit (the Stages 
most Legitimate issue) leaves it to the inheritance of Changlings. 
No less Articke seems to many, the wresting in of Dances, when 
unnatural and improper to the business of the Scene and Plot, as 
if by an unintelligible Charm of their Muses, the Actors were Uke 
Fairies conjur'd up, that the play might vanish in a Dance. 

Nearly every preface or prologue to heroic play or tragedy 
during the Restoration period contains some fling at farces 
and light comedy. During the early part of the period the 
extreme types — the farces and heroic plays were the most 
popular both appealing to the eye and ear through the inter- 
spersion of songs and spectacles. Those who professed to 
write true comedy attacked the heroic play and the farces. 
Roger Boyle in Mr. Anthony wrote: 

The way to please you is easie if we knew't 
A Jigg, a Song, a Rhime or two will do't 
Damn'd Plays shall be adorn'd with mighty Scenes, 
And Fustian shall be spoke in huge machines; 
And we will purhng Streams and Fire-works show.^ 

In 1680 Dryden wrote in a prologue to Tates' Loyal 
General: 

The Plays that take on our Corrupted Stage, 
Methinks resemble the distracted Age ; 
Noise, Madness, all unreasonable Things, 
That strike at Sense, as Rebels do at Kings! 
The stile of Forty One our Poets write. 
And you are grown to judge like Forty Eight. 
Such Censures our mistaking Audience make, 
That 'tis ahnost grown Scandalous to Take! 
They talk of Feavours that infect the Brains, 
But Non-sence is the new Disease that reigns. 
Weak Stomacks with a long Disease opprest, 

I Licensed August 27, 1689; published, 1690; the quotation is from the 
Epilogue. 



La Calprenede's Romances 155 

Cannot the Cordials of strong Wit digest : 

Therefore thin Nourishment of Farce ye choose, 

Decoctions of a Barly- water Muse: 

A Meal of Tragedy wou'd make ye Sick, 

Unless it were a very tender Chick. 

Some Scenes in Sippets wou'd be worth our time, 

Those wou'd go down; some Love that's poach'd in Rime; etc. 

Mrs. Behn who had written in 1677 (cf. Prologue and the 
Epilogue to The Rover, 1677 ed.) : 

In short the only Witt that's now in Fashion, 

Is but the gleanings of good Conversation. 

Oh, Sir, in my young days, what lofty Wit, 

What high strain'd Scenes of Fighting there were writ 

in 1687 (Prologue to the Emperor of the Moon, 1687 ed.) 
complains : 

Long and at vast Expence the industrious Stage 

Has strove to please a dull ungrateful Age: 

With Hero's and with Gods we first began 

And thunder'd to you in Heroick Strain. 

Some dying Love-sick Queen each Night you injoy'd. 

And with Magnificence, at last were cloy'd: 

Our Drums and Trumpets frighted all the Women; 

Our fighting scar'd the Beaux and Billet Deux Men. 

So Spark in an Intrigue of Quality, 

Grows weary of his splendid Drudgery; 

Hates the Fatigue, and cries a Pox upon her, 

What a damn'd bustle's here with Love and Honour. 

In 1698 Motteux wrote: 

I have no reason to complain of the reception which this 
Tragedy met with, tho it appeared first at a time not very favorable 
to Composures of this kind, and divested of aU things that now 
recommend a Play most to the Liking of the Many. For it has 
no Singing, no Dancing, no mixture of Comedy, no Mirth, no 
change of Scene, no rich Dresses, no Show, no Rants, no Similes, 
no Battle, no KiUing on the Stage, no Ghost, no Prodigy; and 
what's yet more, no Smut, no Profaneness, nor Immorahty.^ 

1 Preface to Beauty in Distress, a Tragedy, London, 1698. 



156 Herbert Wynford Hill 

David Craufurd in the Epilogue to Love at First Sight 
(published London, 1704) wrote: 

Well Sirs — you now expect an Epilogue, 

But this same Bard of ours is such a Rogue, 

I durst have Sworn he was possess'd to day, 

No Rhimes he cry'd no, not to save my play; 

I ask'd his Reason why ? 'Sdeath Sir, quoth he, 

Go but to Drury-Lane, and there you'll see. 

Gay Decorations to Amuse the Town, 

While parting Lovers do their Fate bemoan; 

And Hug, and Sigh, and Weep, and Sob alone, 

Wax Tapers, Gaudy Cloaths, rais'd Prizes too, 

Yet even the Play thus Garnish'd wou'd not do: 

So Poysonous Druggs, by Empericks gilded are. 

So Strumpets varnish o're Unwholsome Ware. 

While you with Negligence my Muse receive 

And but a slender Entertainment give, 

But look you Sir, Said I, the Case is plain, 

You have no Pompous Lines to swell the Scene; 

As the last Poet did in Drury-Lane, 

No Angels Wings, to sprout where Serpents grew. 

No Hills, nor Dales, nor Groves of Lovely Hue, 

No Vehicles with Milk white Steed's so rare, 

So Beautiful so sweet or Debonair, 

With Royal Innocence they may Compare, 

No Perfumes, Rocks, not Grots; — and so forth. Sir. 

The writers of farces were pretty well content with their 
own success and paid little attention to the attacks of the 
writers more seriously inclined. There are, however, a few 
direct attacks or replies ; and once in a while there appeared 
a satire or burlesque of the heroic style. The use of rhyme 
in tragedy was, of course, attacked by writers who ap- 
proved the other features of the heroic play. Robert 
Howard who had assisted Dryden in The Indian Queen 
opposed Dryden's contention for rhyme,^ in the preface to 

I Cf. Dedicatory letter prefaced to The Rival Ladies, 1664. 



La Calprenede's Romances 157 

Foure New Plays; Dryden replied to this in his Essay of 
Dramatic Poetry, 1668; Howard answered in the preface to 
the Great Favourite, 1668; and Dryden closed the debate in 
his Defence of an Essay, etc., prefaced to the second edition 
of The Indian Emperor, 1668.^ 

Edward Howard in The Women's Conquest,^ wrote in 
1671: 

Verse that ends in Rhime is generally now the Mode of Heroick 
Plays, but whether so natural and proper, I will not controvert, 
otherwise then by declaring my opinion, that I hke it not so well 
as I do Verse without it, and I conceive I have reason enough on 
my side; for who can beheve that words must not of necessity 
lose much of their grace, and emphasis, when delivered in Rhime, 
which hmits so much of both to it self"; etc. through several 
pages.^ 

Satires and burlesques of the heroic style appeared 
from time to time.'* One of these we might note in pass- 
ing, a burlesque of Alexander's speech in the closing scene 
of Lee's Rival Queens.^ This was written by Thomas 
Durfey and prefixed to the 1693 edition of The Richmond 
Heiress under the heading of a "Song, by way of Dialogue 
between a Mad-man and a Mad-woman" : 

He: Behold the Man that with Gigantick might 
Dares Combat Heaven again; 

> Cf. D. of N.B., under Robt. Howard. 

2 The Womens Conquest: A Tragi-Comedy, London, 1671. 

3 Cf. also Lord John Caryll's Sir Solomon, 1671: "There is more Wit in 
this Dance than in a dozen of your modem Plays: they with their gingle 
of Rhime and Playing with Words, go just like the Chimes of St. Bart'elmy: 
and please the Ladies ears, but effect not the imderstanding at aU." And 
William Joyner in The Roman Empress, 1671, speaks slurringly of the "ginghng 
Antithesis of Love and Honour." 

< One of the earliest and most famous of the burlesques was The Re- 
hearsal, satirizing especially The Conquest of Granada, and also Marriage d la 
Mode, Love in a Nunnery, Tyrannic Love, The Maiden Queen, The Wild Gallant, 
The Amorous Prince, The Villain, etc. In France numerous satirical dramas 
had been written; the most famous of these was Moliere's Les precieuses 
ridicules, 1659; this was leveled especially against Scudery's Clelie. 

5 Cf. above, p. 122. 



158 Herbert Wynford Hill 

Storm Jove^s bright Palace, put the Gods to flight, 

Chaos renew, and make perpetual Night. 

Come on ye fighting Fools, that petty Jars maintain 

I've all the War of Europe in my Brain. 
She: Who's he that talks of War, 

When Charming Beauty comes: 

Within whose Face divinely fair, 

Eternal Pleasure blooms 

When I appear the Martial God, 

A Conquer'd Victim lies, 

Obeys each Glance, each awful Nod, 

And fears the Lightning of my killing Eyes, 

More than the fiercest Thunder in the Skies. 
He: Now, now, we mount up high. 

The Suns bright God and I, 

Charge on the Aziu-e downs of ample Sky. 

See, see, how the Immortal Cowards run: 

Pursue, pursue, drive o'er the Burning Zone : 

From thence come rowUng down. 

And search the Globe below with all the gulphy Main, 

To find my lost, my wandring Sense again. 

By the end of the century the heroic romance had run 
its course. In the early part of the eighteenth century the 
romances were still read^ and there are references to them 
occasionally in plays.^ But they belonged to the past; the 
people were getting tired of Artabans and Statiras, and 
awakening to an interest in people and affairs less remotely 
connected with their daily life. 

I Cf. Addison, Spectator. 

* Cf. Steele's Tender Husband. 



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